After a lesson earlier this week with a less-active member, I was
elated. Prior to the lesson, Anziano Montalto and I felt like we
needed to cover the topic of repentance with her. It was made apparent
to us during the lesson that she really needed to hear the message we
prepared. It was so exciting! When God wants you do to something, you
recognize it, you do it, and then you see the genius behind it- it's
like dropping a fat euro coin into your happiness piggy bank.
Sometimes I do things that I feel like I should do and afterward, I
feel a little foolish. But, every time I've asked Anziano Montalto for
his advice whether I should do a certain thing or not based on a prior
feeling to do it, he always asks me, "Are you worthy?" If I say yes,
he always tells me to do it! He's a really good companion. :)

We did two companionship exchanges this week. During the first
companionship exchange in Pesaro, I got to see my son again! It was
fun being in my old stomping ground for a day and reminiscing on all
the good time I had there. I was with Anziano Leavitt's new companion,
Anziano Baker, and I developed a little mission man crush on him
thanks to his work ethic. He's a fantastic missionary! It felt like I
was with the Mormon Pee-Wee Herman for the day because he greeted
EVERYONE on the street! Ask to see my journal entry when I get home
from my mission if you want to see the miracle we saw because of his
outgoingness. 

On the second companionship exchange, it was brutal! We were in
Ravenna and attempted to do a big proselyting stroll around the city,
but no one was having it. I was in such a great mood and was using
some fun, unorthodox ways to stop people on the street, but no one
wanted to listen to us. Then, we dressed down into some street clothes
and headed to the local basketball court. We beat some Italian guys in
a pick-up game (no thanks to me) and were given the listening ears of
some people that let us talk about the church. I don't think I can
ever say enough how much I'm grateful for our mission president and
his desire for us to "find our own basketball court" with
unconventional finding methods.

Okay, now a little story time about Sunday. Sundays are always the
hardest day of the week for me because church is exhausting as a
missionary (except the no-stress, seven member Sundays in Pesaro). We
arrived at Roberto and Paola's house on Sunday evening and I was
feeling a little drained (my day up until then had been: ward council,
three hours of translating, a member lunch appointment, and two
lessons). They fed my happiness piggy bank with their love that night
(I'm not just saying that because I got to play with Noah the kitten
for the first time). After dinner, Paola expressed how much our
visits met to her and how she feels tranquil and peaceful around us.
It was the perfect environment to jump into the Plan of Salvation.
Truth be told, Paola was a little weirded out with everything!

However, after Paola expressed her doubts, that's when the Spirit hit!
I bore my testimony, then my companion bore his testimony, then there
was silence... 10 seconds... 20 seconds... After probably 30ish
seconds of silence, Roberto jumped in and bore his testimony. Roberto
expressed his gratitude for her being willing to read in the Book of
Mormon and pray with him every night. Then, he shared a little bit of
his conversion story to the church twenty years prior and ended with
his testimony of the Plan of salvation. All of us, including Paola,
were really touched.

It's such a great blessing being a missionary! I don't know what in
the world I'm going to be doing in ten years or where I'm going to be,
but that's okay. I've got another transfer left here in the mission
and I'm excited to keep sharing the gospel.


1. This is the gelateria where it all started and where it finished.
Our first night in Pesaro, Anziano Leavitt and I ate at this
gelateria. Now, he's off to Bolzano and the next time I see him...
I'll be married! Bahaha!
2. Noah and Noah
3. Scambio gelato
4. District Greek food
5. I don't know why I didn't hit up the food trucks in Olympia. These
Gyros are scrumptious!
6. Aaghhh!  

Ciao tutti!

How are you all doing? It's been a busy, but productive week for us
here in Rimini. It's been so nice having a car to get things done.
Yesterday, the sister's needed to take the car to go to a far-away
appointment and we were left with the bikes... I forgot how
inconvenient it is not having the speed and the GPS capabilities of a
car. Luckily, we made it to all of our appointments (with just a
little bit of tardiness to a couple) and only had one minor
catastrophe (I had some zucchini bread batter spill in my bike
basket). When we arrived at the ward family home evening last night, I
gave a brother in our ward a wet handshake (I had been biking all day,
so my hands were a little moist 🏻). Then, later that night, he
pulled me to the side where no one else could here and said, "Hey
Anziano... I used to have sweaty hands too. Wash your hands in cold
water mixed with apple vinegar twice a day- it will heal you." 

The two greatest things that happened this week were setting baptismal
dates with Courage and Sunday! They are preparing themselves to be
baptized on the 30th of this month. These men are both really
hardworking and spiritual. They both come to our Italian class and
have been studying the Book of Mormon. Their questions of the Book of
Mormon have been making me realize how much new content we present to
Christians as we reveal the fullness of the gospel to them. We have
Book of Mormon prophets and modern day prophets and principles to
expound upon (don't even get me started on the priesthood or temples)!

Another cool lesson we had this week was with a part member family.
The mother and daughter our active members, but the father is not. The
dad isn't really interested in the church. Fortunately, since we
helped him move lumber last week, he felt obligated to invite us to
dinner. At this thank-you dinner, we were able to talk a lot about the
church. During our time together, he really opened up to us and it was
obvious he was truly interested in what we were saying. He has a lot
of doubts and doesn't believe we can ever reach a certainty of
spiritual things as humans, but agreed to read in the Book of Mormon
and take Moroni's challenge. I'm not sure who was happier by the end
of the night, us or the man's wife.

The other highlight of the week was getting to go to Florence for
stake conference. It was refreshing getting to see all my friends from
Pistoia, Livorno, and Pesaro again. A member of the area seventy spoke
at the conference and it was a beautiful talk! He was by no means a
native Italian speaker (he only spoke in the present tense even when
referring to the past or future), but the gospel principles he taught
could've been spoken by Joseph Smith during one of his legendary
1840's sermons in Nauvoo.

I wanted to share a couple of the most prevalent concepts he shared
with us. First, pray to your FATHER. When we are in need of miracles,
we often pray to Heavenly Father. But, before Heavenly Father was our
Heavenly Father, he was our father-father. As the Seventy put it, "I
don't always want to talk to my God, I want to talk to my father." As
we go through afflictions or difficulties, we can pray to God like our
father.

Secondly, don't get offended! We need to love the people around us. To
build godlike attributes like long-suffering, we need people to offend
us. We should let people offend us without becoming offended (pretty
weird right?). If you feel offended, you can have a more eternal
perspective by realizing that you have room to progress. We can
literally find joy in our afflictions as we submit ourselves to the
Lord.

Another interesting thought that he shared with us was about Jesus'
stepbrother, James. James was living with a PERFECT person. Imagine
how difficult it must have been! He couldn't tell a lie to Mary
because James knew darn well that Jesus was going to tell the truth.
;)

I love you guys! I hope you have a really good week.
️Anziano Anderson


1. The man himself, Anziano Wheeler
2. We did a companionship exchange with the elders in Ancona this
week... They taught us how to do Briscola finding (a really popular
card game here)! 
3. Ancona is so pretty!!
4. Italian class
5. On Saturday night, we watched the finale of the Champion's League
(Anziano Montalto wanted to use one of his culture events to watch
it). It was pretty fun being around a lot of people that cared so much
about a sports game, but it also made me feel like a freak because my
care level was at an absolute 0 no matter how hard I tried to get
pumped up.  They ended up losing, but I got to play with a cute baby
girl during the whole game so that was a success.
6. Who needs a car when you look this dang good on a bike?! ;)
7. At the ward family home evening last night, Paola showed me Noah
(he's one of those black kittens). They are picking him up today!!
8. This guy is a little trouble maker....

Happy first day of June! I hope you're all enjoying the warmer weather. Over here in Rimini, the warm weather has helped us become more diligent in our gelato buying. ;) Despite getting a weird foot rash, a cold sore, and the members reeling me that I'm the uglier version of Stefan from Vampire Diaries, it's been a splendid week! Yesterday, we went to Bologna for our zone conference and it was a blast. It's so much fun seeing old friends and hearing from our inspired President. 

I want to give you guys a little update on Roberto (the member) and Paola (the non-member)! We went over to eat at their house last week and after a delicious meal and a round of bingo with Paola's kids, we taught the restoration to them. It was legendary. Paola was very quiet throughout the lesson, but it was obvious she was in deep thought. Seeing as Paola's kids were there, we got to teach the restoration really, really simply. We talked slowly, asked a lot of questions, and used a lot of analogies. At the end of the lesson, we asked one of the kids, "How can we know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God?" In the simplest way a 9 year old boy can put it, he said, "We need to communicate with God by asking him in a prayer!" Anziano Montalto walked out of their house feeling very satisfied; if her kids understood it, she was sure to have understood it too. Since that lesson, Roberto has messaged us and told us that him and Paola have been reading in the Book of Mormon together! :) Random side note: Paola and her kids decided to name their new cat after me... Noah!!! 

The day after our dinner with Roberto and Paola, we went to Forlì to do a companionship exchange with the missionaries there. Honestly, when we arrived in Forlì, I was just not feeling it! Some days you feel it, some days you don't. When I saw that we had several hours of blankness in the daily schedule, I thought I was going to die. Luckily, after a little brainstorming session with my companion, we decided to do some filming. We went to a local park and asked people if they wanted to participate in a survey about God. If the answer was yes, we filmed their answers. We probably would've had the same success without the video aspect, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. We got two new numbers of people who wanted to meet with us. By the end of the day, I was feeling it! 

Our Italian class on Saturday went really well! During our spiritual thought, Courage (Daniel's friend) raised his hand to say something. We let him speak and he bore a huge testimony of the Book of Mormon! He's great. 

The highlight of my week was on Monday. Anziano Montalto and I had a little bit of time to fill before we had a member meal appointment scheduled. We decided to do some house proselyting. This was the first time all transfer we had done house tracting together. When we arrived at the neighborhood of the member family we were going to be seeing later that night, we said a prayer and left our car. I asked Anziano Montalto where he felt like we should go and he pointed to a nearby apartment building. The third doorbell that we rang on that apartment building was a man that let us in! His name is Mario and we ended up teaching him the entire restoration. He's 29 years-old, in the military, and is obviously really well off. It was really cool testament seeing how the Lord can literally guide us to the people who will accept us into their homes. Bonus side note: After our lesson with Mario, we arrived at our meal appointment to find MASSIVE Mexican tacos waiting for us (with the secret ingredient of cinnamon in the sauce). 

I love you guys! Keep choosing the right and loving the people around you. :)

️Anziano Anderson 

1. We went to an all you can eat burger place with some ward members and despite the deliciousness of the product, I left that place DEAD. The man who is holding up his hand tried to eat more hamburgers than me. He succeeded and was feeling pretty cocky about it. However, when we got outside the restaurant, he challenged me to a race in the parking lot and I destroyed him. Then, later that night, he told me he threw up three times. 🏻
2. This is one of our Nigerian investigators named Sunday. I need to preface this picture with some back story: I used to watch The Office with my little sister Abbey and she was convinced that I had the exact same nose as Stanley Hudson. Upon close examination of this photo, you'll see that my nose is literally identical to Sunday's! I have some African in my genes. ;)
3. Yesterday's zone conference! 
4. Call us if you're interested in our English class. 
5. Optimal p-day statue.
6. Optimal lunch eating location.
7. Optimal p-day activity. Side note: we spent our p-day with a couple from our ward and one of their friends... none of us had seen Star Wars!! 

I had to chuckle a little bit this past Monday when I watched
one of the young men in our ward get set apart and start his mission
experience. Before he was set apart, he was having an interview with
the stake president in the bishop's office and we were waiting in the
lobby of the church building with his family and girlfriend. Let me
tell you, the lobby was a solemn place! His mom was crying and his
girlfriend and dad had very straight faces! After the interview, the
boy walked out of the bishop's office and told his girlfriend to
follow him. They walked into a nearby room and the next thing I know,
I was listening to a very thirsty dog drink out of his water bowl.
....The boy was getting in a literal last-minute smoocheroo. ;) After
a minute or so, the dog's thirst was quenched. The boy and his
girlfriend walked out of the room and then he was set-apart! Hahaha!
😂 All joking aside, I'm so glad he chose to serve a mission; he's
going to be a killer missionary.

Earlier this week, we went to Milan to do a companionship exchange
with the assistants! It was a ton of fun seeing my old stomping ground
again. The Allens weren't in Milan that day, but I got to see the
Hoopes and eat a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie from Sorella
Hoopes! I also got to teach a really cool new convert with one of the
AP's and then see my companion eat Domino's pizza for the first time
in his life. Italian pizza is bomb, but American pizza isn't bad
either. Anziano Montalto was originally thinking that the restaurant
should be burned down upon seeing a Hawaiian pizza on the menu.
"Putting pineapple on a pizza is an abomination!" Then, he ate a slice
of pepperoni pizza. "This is one of the best pizzas I've eaten in my
life!"

Work here in Rimini is going really well! We've been calling old
potentials and old investigators and have seen a lot of success from
it. We have taught the message of the restoration many times this
week! A lot of the men we've seen are refugees from Africa and they
are some of the coolest, most humble men you'll ever meet! On Sunday,
Daniel (our new convert) brought one of his friends Courage to church
with him. We had a lesson with them yesterday and it went great. I
love teaching with Daniel because he has the new-convert fire! 🔥

We are starting our Italian class this Saturday for all of our English
speaking friends and we are very excited. Some of my favorite nights
in the mission were in Livorno at our African family home evenings.
There's something magical that happens when you get a lot of African
men together. Hopefully my Italian teaching ability will be better
than my duck duck goose playing ability or we might be in for some
trouble on Saturday (the Africans in Livorno always kicked my butt at
duck duck goose 😂).

Do you guys remember the classic quote, "People do not really care how
much you know until they know how much you care."? We were in a lesson
earlier this week with a less-active member of the church and it
popped into my head. Anziano Montalto and I have really good teaching
unity and the people we teach usually respond really well to us. But,
during this lesson, it was like we were teaching a brick wall. The
less active member was not opening up to us and didn't seem to care
about a word that was coming out of our mouth. However, after the
lesson, we offered to buy him a gelato and he readily agreed. It was
really cool to see this man's whole demeanor change all because of a
little gelato. It was a nice reminder for me to show love to the
people around me.

I was vigorously using my red scripture marking pencil earlier this
week when reading Mosiah 23. Verses 21 and 22 hit me in a powerful
way. Sometimes life feels like sunshine and smiles, but there are
other times where it seems like we're on the way to brother Job's
house! I love seeing that although we can be doing everything that
we're supposed to be doing, there is suffering that is part of our
journey here on this little blue planet. When we hold close to Jesus
Christ during our suffering, we are elevated. If we don't, we can't
progress and deprive ourselves of his power. I had an experience this
week that allowed me to reflect on Jesus Christ's last 24 hours on
earth with greater appreciation. Jesus Christ is our Savior and he is
the way to eternal life. I know that sometimes we don't get
everything, but that's okay. We don't need to. This is the true church
of Jesus Christ and I know there is peace that come when we follow our
prophets no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

I love you guys,
Anziano Anderson

p.s. The church released a new 10 part video series called Mormon
Beliefs. The videos are great! You should check them out when you have
a minute. :)

1. Anziano Montalto have been eating peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches everyday because we found an African store that sells
ghetto peanut butter for cheap!
2. Before...
3. ...After (arancini are literally the best food in the entire world)
4. Sitting in my old chair ❤️
5. Dante's tomb
6. Making my Italian companion feel embarrassed by being a dumb
American and posing in front of the "leaning tower" 😂
7-10. Pretty Catholic churches :)
11. P-day squad

May 17

I hope you're all doing fine and dandy because I know am! I got to talk to my family on Sunday and they are the greatest. Also, it's been really nice weather and that means two things: I'm always really happy and I'm consistently sweaty. I remember a few years ago when the sister missionaries visited the Anderson residence and they stunk! I remember thinking to myself, "Missionaries shouldn't stink! Who is going to listen to their message of eternal significance if they stink?!" Now, four years later, I'm that stinky missionary and no one wants to listen to me! 😂

The pinnacle moment of this week definitely occurred this past Friday when Daniel was baptized! I'm going to take advantage of my journal writing and share how things went from my perspective.

"Daniel got baptized today! Everything worked out perfectly. The font isn't filling up fast enough? No problem, let's dump trash cans of water into the font and raise the water later. We forgot to bring the eggs to make the chocolate chip cookies and there isn't time to go to the store? No problem, let's ask the church's next door neighbor for eggs. I am sweating a lot? No problem, I remembered to pack a deodorant stick before leaving the apartment!

For real. Everything went really well today. The font was filled in time for the baptism, we ate delicious chocolate chip cookies after the baptism, and Anziano Anderson smelled oh-so-good during the baptism. I'm pretty sure Abbey would've laughed at me today when she saw me singing in the "special musical number". The Rimini missionaries teamed up with Sister Allen and we sang the rainbow primary song right before Daniel got dunked... It wasn't atrocious, but it was by no means special!

After the baptism, Daniel was elated! He really opened up to me after the baptism and shared some personal stuff with me. I always love finding out why the Nigerians I meet decided to risk their life to come to Italy in the first place. What it comes down to is he's a jealous romantic (his jealously just manifested itself in a very different way than my preferred method of social media stalking)! As long as Daniel keeps reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, he's going to be a grand great father and inspired church leader one day."

I'm so proud of Daniel! He came with us yesterday to help teach Samuel (our new contact that I told you about last week) and the only thing he's missing is a missionary name tag. Daniel wasn't scared to jump in to teach a doctrine or bare a testimony and by the end, him and Samuel had really hit it off. They are from the same state in Nigeria and bonded over that for a little bit.

On Saturday, the day after the baptism, we literally spent the WHOLE day in the church preparing for a stake youth activity the following evening. It was a long, tiring, but rewarding day. The activity consisted of a fake plane ride and cash, then a tour of the three kingdoms of glory. We put so much work into it and we weren't even the leaders organizing the event! It made me really glad that we have faithful leaders in the church that seek to provide a means for spiritual experiences to our youth. Camp Helaman was the most spiritual experience of my youth and that's thanks to awesome church leaders like the ones we have in Rimini! :) Unfortunately, from my observations, and I think some of the youth deprived themselves of a powerful spiritual experience due to their frivolity or flirtiness (teenagers can be serious flirt monsters). At the very least, all the kids are more informed about the three kingdom's of glory.

I think a really cool lesson we had this week was with Roberto and Paola! Roberto is an ex-member who the missionaries got in contact with a few months ago and now has started coming to church again. Roberto, although he hasn't been re-baptized, has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and ended up bringing his girlfriend to church on Sunday! We ate dinner with them a few days ago and presented a little message about Christ. It was a total success! Paola has two little boys who thought we were really cool and Paola accepted the invite to take the missionary discussions.

My life is really great! :)

Vi voglio bene,
Anziano Anderson

1. Daniel's big day
2. Just call me President Uchtdorf because I'm about to take flight
3. Cruising in Italy
4. Flyin' dat San Marino bandiera
5. When people ask if you eat well in Italy 😂
6. Coppia pic
7. I don't have instagram anymore, but I still know how to take artsy photos
8. P-day squad