Over 5,000 Views!!!

Thank you to everyone who continues to follow Anziano Clay Lacey as he serves his mission in Italy.  He travels to Trapani, Italy (on the Island of Sicily) today.  The blog just went over 5,000 views!

Arrivederci Sardegna! Mi mancherà!

Buongiorno tutti! Hey guys! I'm do glad everyone is doing well and that you are all having so much fun! Keep it up! Things are going great here! Like I said in my email, I'm getting transferred! I'm hoping right over to Sicily in the beautiful city of Trapani! I couldn't be more excited and I'm so excited to be engulfed in the Sicilian culture! I have heard so many great stories, and it's a place full of history, and of course, the mafia! I might die from heat though because I think that it is the city closest to Africa, so it's hot. Tomorrow I take the ferry to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, I'll sleep there for the night, and then I have a twelve hour train ride all the way to Trapani. I'm excited though and I'll basically be able to see all of Southern Italy while I head down so I'm excited! I'll let you all know how it goes!

This past week I've been doing what President told me to do in the interview: work hard and say goodbye to the people. We've been doing a lot of finding and have seen success with more potential investigators. President always want us to work a little harder in a city when we know we are about to leave because we'd expect the same from the missionary who's spot we'd fill.

Saturday we had a lesson with Adhemar, and we actually got the calls right then before we started the lesson. I knew that this would probably be the last lesson that I'd be able to do with him so we prepared well. I prayed hard, and as I was doing my personal study it stood out so clearly to me that we needed to invite him to read the talk from the last General Conference by Elder Holland, "The Laborers in the Vineyard." I love that talk so much and as I read it I obviously found much I need to take from it, but also how it could be applicable to Adhemar's situation with his family and how he feels with his job and work. In the lesson we watched the film The Testaments, and there was a special Spirit there. In the end we bore testimony, but this time was a little different. My teacher, Brother Bulloch talked about the last testimony he bore to an investigator before his mission ended and how he gave it with such might and it was so heartfelt that it was almost like he left or literally gave this testimony for the investigator. I felt like that when I shared my testimony with him. We were both teary eyed, and then he shared something so touching. He said, "Thank you for your testimony. I always feel the Spirit when you guys are with me, and teach me, but today was different. I am happy." They were just simple words, but all the effort, prayer, and time I have spent with Adhemar has been the greatest learning experience I've had here in Sassari, and I wouldn't trade my time here for anything.

Church was perfect. People were so excited for the news that I was heading to Sicily. One of the members even served as branch president there when he did his mission years ago. It was tough saying goodbye to everyone, especially Fratello Murgia and his family. Earlier in the day I complemented him on his tie, and after church he took it right off and gave it to me as a little thing to remember him by. I took pictures with the members, and I got a little emotional, as you could imagine how I always am, but I'm getting better! I really did feel loved that day and I will miss the members so much! We had six investigators in church, including Lorenza and her husband Sergio, the one's who invited us over for lunch on Easter.

The rest of Sunday was a bit crazy. We went to Alghero with the Mangoni family and ate a huge and delicious lunch with them, headed back to Sassari, and the Carboni family had us over for pizza that they make in their wood burning oven. I ate so much! I am just getting ready for all the food the Sicilians might give me!

Monday we had our last district meeting and I'm really going to miss Anziano Schwing and Anziano Ferrero. He served with my future companion, Anziano Simonetta, and said that he is great, and that we will be one of the strongest companionship's in the mission together, so he got me super pumped up! I can't wait to get over to Trapani!

My English course students are so great. They organized this awesome dinner at a fancy Pizzeria for me Monday night. We had a ton of fun and Lorenza even brought me a little present, two blue ties! Her husband Sergio has blue eyes, and she always buys him blue clothing to make his eye's pop, so she did the same for me! They are fancy, expensive Italian ties too... explains the nice BMW her husband drives!

Well that's the sum up for the week! Things are going great and I am so excited for the future! I know I will have a blast at Trapani, and even on the longest voyage one could take in the Italy Rome Mission! I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg! Have a great week and stay safe! Statemi bene! Mi mancate un sacco! Ci sentiamo presto e vi voglio tanto bene!

Anziano Clay Lacey

Felice Giorno d'Indipendenza!

Cara famiglia mia,

Hey guys! Happy Independence day! Be safe and have some fun! It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in the MTC watching the fireworks from the stadium at BYU! Time is flying too quickly!

This has been a great week. I'll skip ahead to what happened yesterday. We went to Cagliari for zone conference and it was perfect. Just like always President Kelly received such inspiration, specifically for us here in Sardegna, and as he spoke of different methods we can use to invite people to act, it all just clicked and all the questions I came with were definitely answered. Especially those regarding our investigator Adhemar. One thing that I realized and will always remember now is an important point in missionary work. We learn that the Spirit is the true teacher of course, but what does that make us missionaries as the vessels to bring the Spirit into this person's life? We are 'inviters'. Nowhere in our missionary purpose does it say that we teach people but instead, we invite people to act for themselves so that they can be directly connected to the powers of heaven. This is such an important principle and it helps us missionaries learn the Christlike attribute of humility as we recognize where the true power comes from. Just like Christ, the Greatest of all who lived, took not the source of the things He taught upon Himself, but directed the doctrine back to His Father. As you can see I really enjoyed this conference and it is a huge testimony builder that leaders in the church are put in their positions and specifically called of God, and these humble people tell us what the Lord would have shared with us, therefore it is so important to sustain and honor our leaders. 

President and Sister Kelly

Sardegna Zone Conference - 7/3/12

I also had my interview with President and that went well, and based on what he said it is pretty much set in stone that I'm leaving the island. I love Sardegna, the wonderful people, members of the church, but I'm ready for a change. President Kelly said that he likes to have missionaries set roots in an area, and my eleven months here have done that. I have never been more excited for transfers, and I know that I will be blessed wherever I go. 

The investigators are doing well. We have been focusing a huge part of our efforts with finding, and when I say finding I mean talking with EVERYONE on the street. I have found this to be the most effective ways of finding people. I love seeing the blessings and miracles that come from it, plus the more people you talk to, the more neat and interesting people you'll meet, and the greater chance there is to find that person who is ready to hear the Gospel. 

We were debating whether or not we wanted to stay in Cagliari for a preparation day together for the fourth of July. The great example of Anziano Schwing helped convinced me that we should get back to our area as soon as possible, especially after such a great and recharging zone conference. Since he and Anziano Ferrero where heading back that night, we jumped in the car with them. We got back at about 7:30, and still had an hour and a half left in the day, so we went right out and found three people who are interested to hear the message. If we would have stayed it would have delayed their chance to learn of the truth. I love the mission for just little things like this. 

A fun little story, we met with an ex-investigator named Letizia who unfortunately had to stop taking the lessons because her mother is contrary to the church. She still tries to come to English course though, and we set up a little activity in which she taught us how to make cheesecake! I'm proud to say that I can now make a delicious desert! We are going to have some fun cooking when I come home!

Oh! I absolutely forgot to share the most hilarious and saddest story that happened to me and Anziano Hill before he left and it just came to my mind now. We came home after English course one night, and Anziano Hill was pretty eager to get to bed. We waited at the ground floor of our apartment building for the elevator to take us to the fourth, but the yellow button was illuminated signifying that it was occupied. Anziano Hill pressed the button impatiently about ten times still being yellow, so the absolute second that it was available he pressed the button which brought the elevator down towards us. In the elevator shaft we could hear terrifying screams of a little girl. We paused and listened for a second, I looked at him and said, "what did you do!?" As the elevator got closer to us the shrieks and cries from within grew louder. We waited with fright as to what would confront us as the door opened. When it finally landed, the doors opened and a small, three year old girl was there by herself, imprisoned by a descending elevator. When she saw us instead of her mother (which I'm sure was the last thing she saw before the doors closed) she screamed louder, and Anziano Hill knelt down to her level and tried to ask her what floor she lived on so he could send her back up... The poor child felt cornered and cried. I yelled up the stairs to the parents that were rushing down telling them that she was alright. Finally when the mom came the poor little girl felt comforted, but she was so scared and scarred from before, that it was hard for her to catch her breath. She was in her mom's arms, and when she realized that we weren't scary guys in suits she waved to us and said repetitively, "ciao" waving her little hand. Needless to say I was really embarrassed about the whole situation, but the parents knew it was just an accident. In the end it was so cute and amazing to see how quick to forgive children are, and the love they have for others. This is a little testimony from what the Savior says on how we must follow the examples of children and learn from them because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

I love you all so much! We'll see where I'll be next week when I write again because I have no clue! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a safe week! I miss you all so much! Thank you for your prayers because I need them and I feel them everyday! You're the best! Vi voglio una galassia di bene! Statemi bene!

Con gran affetto.

Anziano Clay Lacey

Mamma Mia! Fa caldo!

Buongiorno!!!

Hey guys! I am so glad that everyone is dong well. Things have been great this week but I'm a little sad because I feel like I'll be heading out of Sassari here soon, and most likely Sardegna. I'll try not to think about it too much though and keep working as if nothing will change! 

Saturday was probably the highlight of the week. We did some good old fruit picking for some members, and then they fattened me up with three pieces of thick lasagna. We had a nice lesson with Adhemar, but unfortunately he really doesn't feel ready for baptism. Now we just have to wait until he feels ready, and until his faith grows. He is definitely nurturing that "seed" that Alma speaks about in chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon, but he hasn't yet recognized the answers to his prayers. He is doing well though!

After that lesson we went to church and helped set up for an activity. We had such a blast with the members, and there was such a good turn out! For our missionary end we had two former investigators, a guy from English course, Adhemar and two of his kids, and Margherita and her brother. It was a miracle that two of the four of Adhemar's kids came! He brought the two youngest, Alessia-4 and Josè-9. The members welcomed them and they had fun playing with all of the other children. We played soccer, had a barbecue, owned in ping-pong, and played some Foosball. Overall a fantastic night!

Alejandro, the twelve year old brother of Margherita also had a great time. He liked it so much that he came to church the next day! He looked like such a stud in a shirt and tie, and I could tell he enjoyed sacrament meeting as he was singing with all his might! I love that kid a lot, and he and his cousin Josè look at me like an older brother they never had. It makes me really miss Greg! Alejandro now has interest in the Gospel which is great because we need another deacon to pass the sacrament! Unfortunately their mother hasn't come to church yet, but we have all the kids there! 

We had a surprise from the Cagliari Anziani and they came to do splits with us. I went out with the new, Anziano Anderson from Salt Lake who is our zone leader. We did a lot of finding work, and then at the end of the day we headed home and I made those cupcakes you guys sent to me. The only thing was I didn't use them for my birthday, but for Margherita's which was that day. All four of us showed up and we did a little missionary style birthday party. She was so thankful and happy. Her mom had to work all day, and Margherita had to take her last exam for finishing off the school year, so the day wasn't extremely special for her at first until we arrived. I ordered her a Bible to go along with her new Book of Mormon, and she loved the gift (even though a Bible probably isn't the number one thing on a fourteen year old girl's list). We left with a spiritual thought, and by that time her mom came home and was also very grateful to us. 

This is the sum up of the week! Things are going great, and we love to see the progress our investigators are making. Like I said it is getting extremely hot here, and the humidity doesn't help at all. This is making it rather difficult to meet with people, because they literally shut down and refuse to go outside when it is too hot, or spend all day at the beach. Nearly every person in Sassari leaves and goes to the beach, has a house close to the beach, or something of that genre. 

I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week and continue to stay safe! Vi voglio tanto bene! Abbiate un bell'estate! 

A presto, 

Anziano Clay Lacey

Due nuovi simpatizzanti!

Cara famiglia,

Buongiorno! Thanks so much for the emails and I'm glad everyone is
well! Things are going great as usual here in Italy. Summer is
definitely here and it's hitting us hard with some humidity. I went
ahead and bought a few new white shirts with short sleeves because the
heat is killing me! Probably the only thing that doesn't please me
about our apartment is the fact that there is no cooling system. In
Olbia we had a really nice air-conditioner but here in Sassari we
leave the whole house wide open and mosquitoes (zanzare in
italianio... yes they even sound evil in this language) eat me alive!
My friends who serve missions in third world countries are going to
make fun of me for sure when we share mission stories!

We've been blessed to be led to find two new investigators recently.
One was a man I found with Anziano Ferrero on our split. His name is
Tiziano and he is a stud! He has been through a lot in his life and he
is ready to turn his life back to Christ. We met with him last week
and then we did a lesson with him last night on the Restoration. He
told us that he really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true so
he will begin reading it from start to finish. I've got a lot of hope
in him!

Yesterday we were searching for people in this beautiful park we found
and there was this father playing with his little daughter. We went
and talked to them and he was really interested in our message. We
even did a whole lesson with him there in the park with a prayer and
everything. His name is Marcello and he is awesome. Things are rough
with him and his family right now because of the economy, but he is
working his hardest for his family. He has a wife and another little
daughter so we have a whole family potential! We actually just saw him
randomly today at the library a few minutes ago!

Church was awesome! Adhemar came and he brought Margherita so she
came to church for the first time! She loved it and the members were
so welcoming to her. Sunday was a little crazy for me though because I
taught Gospel Principles class to our four investigators that came to
church. We talked about temples and it really made me miss the temple.
That's going to be one of the first things I want to do when I come
home is go to the temple. On Saturday night we got a call and nearly
everyone who was supposed to give talks in sacrament meeting was sick
or wasn't coming to church for some reason, so they asked me to give a
talk for about 5-7 minutes. The only two speakers were a sister who
prepared a 5 minute talk, and me. After the Intermediate song I gave
my talk and I prolonged it for a good half an hour to fill the time.
The members liked it and an older member who snores during meetings
said that he didn't get bored, haha. To top it off at the end we went
down to Olbia and had a district meeting where I was assigned to give
the training. Phew, I was tired! The mission is really helping me to
improve my teaching because it needs a lot of work!

On our splits in Olbia I had the chance to see lots of familiar faces,
including this one less active family that I love so much. They are
making great progress to coming back home, and the best part was when
the little kids noticed I was there. They were outside playing and
they came in with their cute little voices screamed"ANZIANO LACEY!"
and came and hugged me. I felt so loved at that moment! A lot of
missionaries joke around with me and say that I don't know anyone (as
in missionaries) in the mission and that nobody knows me, but I don't
care because that little image I left behind at least for that family
and the Mazzone family is the best legacy I could have left in that
city. I am blessed to have served so close to come back and recognize
it.

We were thinking about ending English course for the summer because
there wasn't very many people coming and then last night it just blew
up! I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to run two
classes, one for beginners learning the verb conjugations, and one for
intermediate going over the past participle of irregular verbs. We
have decided to redo the publicity and run a summer course for those
who want a little extra help before the new school year begins.

Well that's the sum up for the week! Things are going great and
investigators are progressing well. We are working, but there's lots
of room to improve. I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you
Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I
love you Greg. Grazie per il vostro esempio per me! Siete grandi! Vi
voglio una galassia di bene!

Con affetto,

Anziano Clay Lacey

Un'altra settimana!

Hey guys!

It feels like it's been awhile since I've written last! I miss you all so much! Thank you for the year mark package! I loved the camel theme and it really got me excited to work hard this next year. I absolutely loved the camel drawing contest! You all did great, and Brooke is quiet the artist! Dad... I must say that yours looked more like a dying dinosaur, but I loved it anyways! (Haha -scherzo!) It's hard to believe I've already been out for a year! Time is definitely flying and I'm not counting time anymore because it's going to make me go crazy!

This has been a great week! Things have been a bit slow with teaching, but we've found a lot of success with finding new potentials that look very promising. We have seen a lot of miracles, especially with the Nachif family. 

It has been so hard trying to get appointments with the mother, Sariah, and it has been weeks and they haven't came to church yet. Adhemar is a stud and went over to their house to pick them up to go to church with him Sunday morning, but they weren't ready. He told the mother that she needs to read the Book of Mormon, and he personally gave her Mormon 9 to read. While doing a split with Anziano Ferrero, the greenie from northern Italy, we stopped by just to say hi and she loved the chapter she read. She was so excited for our upcoming appointment on Tuesday. 

Tuesday came around and we planned well for the lesson. We organized for a member, Sara the daughter of Fratello Murgia who served a mission in Milano, to come with us and we planned to teach the plan of salvation. It was neat to see how the Spirit leads you to do other things. We started by talking a lot about the Book of Mormon, and then it lead to an entire lesson based on the book, and you have no idea how excited Sariah was to begin reading. We also found out that they were about to paint a room because they were rearranging the house because her other daughter's daughter is coming in from Bolivia and they need a switch up. Well we insisted to help so we spent p-day helping them paint one of the rooms. The best part about it was who it was for. Alejandro, the 12 year old son, has been a little hesitant with us around. They are basically converting the kitchen into a new room for him and he is so excited for this, because he has been sleeping in one room with all the girls in the family since he's been in Italy. We were scarred because the paint wasn't turning out very well and we painted over this dark pink with a lighter blue. I was worried he wasn't going to like it but he absolutely loved it. We automatically made a friendship and the few hours of work with them was worth it just to see his reaction. We had an awesome South American lunch with them and now here we are at the Internet point!

Like I said earlier, we have been finding lots of success with street finding. While on my split this week I had fun with Anziano Ferrero because he hasn't been able to do much finding just because Anziano Schwing is so busy with branch president business, so in a way the three hours of street contacting we did helped break him into finding work. He, and I were amazed with how much success we found. Only three hours and we got nine numbers! We already have appointments with three of them tomorrow! I have been working a lot on growing faith, and my journal is being filled with small, but powerful personal stories of being lead by the Spirit. I've realized something lately. I always thought in a way that I should work hard so that I can have a memory full of stories to use throughout my life thanks to my missionary service, but that isn't the right way to think. I am going to really treasure sacred experiences and allow the guidance from the Spirit with how I share them.

Sunday was amazing! For district conference we had a broadcast for the Europe zones of the church, and President Eyring and Elder Nelson spoke! It was amazing, but most of all for Adhemar who came. He really recognized that they were men called of God, and the theme's of their talks were specifically for him: uniting the family and conversion to the gospel. Adhemar listened so intently and took notes (while a member in the back was snoring)!

Well that's about it for the week! Things are so amazing here in Italy! I love you all so much! I love you (Bishop) Dad, haha, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg! Thank you for your support and I feel your love and prayers everyday. You're the best! Vi voglio tanto bene!

Cari saluti, 

Anziano Clay Lacey

Ho quasi fatto un anno!

Cara famiglia mia,

English class students celebrating Clay's birthday!

Buongiorno! Thank you all for the birthday wishes and for the love I felt! I am glad you all had a wonderful time finishing off the end of the year and celebrating birthdays! This has seemed like a long, but a very fun week. So much has happened with the switches and I like how things are going! Here is the rundown of the week day by day:

Wednesday I spent the day getting the house nice and clean for Anziano Hopper and during the night Anziano Schwing and I did some work including teaching Salim, which went really well! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he already wants to be baptized so we need to just get him a date! Real quick just a cool point, from that point on with Anziano Schwing until now I've been speaking only Italian! It's great!

Thursday we went to Alghero and picked up our companions from the airport. Anziano Hopper is a great guy and he was right away in agreement to speak only Italian! We ate a little lunch and the Olbia guys headed out. Anziano Schwing is training an awesome Italian from up north. A little bit about Anziano Hopper, he is the youngest of eight children from Sandy Utah, where Anziano Barker is from! He is hard core into scouting and he is really funny and we basically have a ton of fun together. He is also probably the most organized person I know which is a huge example to me!

Well he got settled in and we headed over to English course. It was weird at first because there wasn't very many people there at all in my class, and I was disappointed because I was excited for the lesson we were going to have with Lorenza. Halfway through the course Lorenza, her husband Sergio, and Maria came in with homemade cakes, drinks, and birthday candles! I didn't even remember telling them that it was going to be my birthday, but they must have remembered from a while ago! You have no idea how loved I felt and how huge of a surprise it was. It's hard to describe, but just from that little act I could tell how much they cared. Throughout language barriers, different cultures, and even religious backgrounds there is a type of hidden connection that binds us as literal children of our loving Heavenly Father. Unfortunately we didn't get to do the lesson with Lorenza because of the party, but we'll plan and hope for next week. 

The birthday went good! It was pretty much just like a normal day, I got up, worked out, had studies, and then we planned for the week like we do on every Friday. For lunch we did something a little special and went to my favorite pizzeria called Panegrosso. I wanted to wait until night to open my gifts, but pranzo time is when we have the most free time so I decided to open them then. Thank you so much for everything! The music, the funny but awesome Chinese shirt, and all of the cards! It really made my day and it was an awesome birthday! That night we went to Adhemar's house for a lesson. The lesson went great and we taught about tithing. He is so ready to become a member and we asked him to fast about baptism. Like I said before he loves to sing, and so we all sang the Italian version of "Nearer my God to Thee". He loved the song so much and wanted to sing it for his family, so he brought them in and we sang. Things are going much better with him and his wife and prayers have been answered. After spending some time with the family Anziano Hopper mentioned something about it being my birthday, and Adhemar was so excited! He wished me happy birthday, but it was a little awkward with his family since they don't celebrate birthdays. Well he gave his daughter some money and she bought some ice cream and we had a ton of fun together during the evening. I love the Gamarra family so much and I pray that they too will know the truthfulness of the course their father is taking.

Church was good and Adhemar really enjoyed it! There was a family from Utah that was visiting and I did the translation for them during sacrament meeting which was a lot of fun! We went to Olbia for district meeting and we have an awesome district! I am so excited for this transfer. 

That's about it for the week! Things are going great and I can't believe I am a few days from my year mark! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week and stay safe! Thank you all for everything! Vi voglio tanto bene!

Cari saluti, 

Anziano Clay Lacey