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We got the transfer calls, and Anziano Vitali and I are doing another one together in Olbia! We are both really excited and have set some high goals so that we WILL see baptisms this transfer. I can't believe that towards the end of this next transfer I will have six months down! I don't want to think about time... I might have to extend it to three years just FYI.
Things are going great here! We've had an interesting week with a few troubles but it always turned out good in the end. The heavenly virtue of patience has been needed!
To kick this one off with the progress of our investigators. The Tache's have had a bit of a set back. They didn't come to church this week, and they have not wanted to see us very often. We've seen Iona more, but Ionel hardly at all because of his new job.
The family that we found from Calangianus is doing great! They are called the Savigni family. We stopped by their house and met Agostina's husband for the first time, and he seemed great! He was also excited to see us and it sounded like Agostina had been talking a lot about us to him. We set up an appointment to see them this Friday, and we are trying to get her to read the Book of Mormon! We are really excited to see them again and we have high hopes for their awesome family! As far as Marissa goes, we will see her tomorrow, and we are really praying hard and preparing for this next lesson. Hopefully we can start seeing her more often than once a week about.
On Saturday we went to Sassari for the Halloween party. It was a ton of fun, but Anziano Vitali and I were nervous the whole time as we waited for transfer calls that didn't come until 10 o'clock that night! As you have seen from Alessio's facebook, and according to your emails, yes, we were smurfs. Smurfs are really popular here in Italy apparently, and we decided it would be funny to be them. Also, in Italian, smurfs are called puffi, so we thought it was even funnier according to our little sense of humor! We had a ton of fun and ate some interesting food! Halloween in Italy is definitely not the same though. For example, nothing really happens on the 31st, but on November 1st everyone goes to the cemeteries to visit their dead relatives. It's definitely a national holiday because nearly everyone was off work. We went the cemetery just to see what it was like and it was packed! We then went to see one of our potential investigators named Giuseppe who was selling flowers near the cemetery for the mad rush. Then, on the 2nd of this month, the children (in the morning) do their trick-or-treating. It's weird because they don't dress up and it's clear daylight out.
Sunday was a bit of a nightmare for me. Church was great, we went to Calangianus to do more work which was great, but we ran into some interesting people. While walking to Agostina's house, this woman with her two dogs came up to us and asked if she could talk to us for a minute. We said of course and then she then began to express her frustration because somebody forgot to close a gate and now there was a cow on the loose and she was afraid for her dogs safety. After about five minutes of venting she asked who we were. We gave her the spill, and she asked a very interesting question that I had never heard before, and that I thought I would never be asked on my mission. She asked if animals will be in heaven after we die. She then expressed her frustration again because the catholic priests told her that animals are damned because they can't be baptized and saved. We told her that even animals have spirits and that heaven wouldn't be heaven if we didn't have the people we love, even the pets we love also. I should have referred her to the movie, "All Dogs Go to Heaven." It would probably explain it more clearly. Well, we got into a classic gospel discussion, and she invited us to her house which was close by. We walked there and met her parents. Now, I want to be completely honest and descriptive as possible. I was a beyond a little nervous to go there, mainly because the lady wasn't entirely on the normal side. I couldn't imagine her home life too. Well her mom was 82 years old, and her dad was 93 and missing all of his teeth. I couldn't understand a word he said. The lady and her mom would yell back and forth about everything because they were having a bit of a communication problem. The dogs were running all over the house, it smelled funny, the old man was doing something funny with his lip, and the t.v. was on the highest volume possible yet, the yells of the two women surpassed the talk show on the t.v. until their voices broke the sound barrier and permanently scarred my eardrums. It was miserable. We managed to reach a calmer setting and get the yelling stopped with the t.v. turned down a bit and taught them a little lesson. Don't get me wrong, they were super nice, but it was just a comical setting. After we closed with a prayer and barely escaped from staying for dinner, I saw the old lady kiss Anziano Vitali. Now, I noticed the younger lady, that she had somewhat of a mustache that was thicker than uncle Lance's, but I didn't notice the old lady until she was pulling me in to embrace me for the kisses. Her face was covered in long, white hairs that poked and rubbed against my cheeks. Ewww. And then her daughter came in with the mustache, and her lips that had just smoked three cigarettes in the duration of the time we were there touched my cheeks too. It was a nightmare! After we left the house we sprinted to a bar and washed our cheeks in the bathroom. I tell you this so that my sufferings can give you a little laugh.
After that we had a bit of bad luck for the next 24 hours. On our way home from Calangianus, Anziano Vitali turned the car and the power steering was acting funny, so he pulled over (at a spot that was extremely unsafe with traffic). He turned off the car for some reason, but it wouldn't turn back on. Great. We were broke down. Luckily, Claudio Branca was on his way back from Olbia dropping off his girlfriend, and after an hour of waiting for him he tried to see what was the problem. He couldn't figure it out so we at least pushed the car to a safer location and he gave us a ride home. President Branca is a mechanic so he's taking care of the car, but he says it won't be done until the end of this week. So we are car-less. When we woke up on Monday morning we didn't have any water, so we worked with the landlord for about an hour to fix it and to see what was wrong. After we figured that out our power was out, and had to figure that out and lost another hour. Things were a little crazy and stressful but we managed to get through it. It wasn't turning out to be the greatest Halloween!
A member of the branch called us and needed some help at her store, so we went and worked there picking up refrigerators and other heavy devices until we were flat out exhausted. Neither Anziano Vitali nor I were in the greatest of moods. Well we received a call from sister Mazzone in our ward and she invited us over for dinner and family home evening. Now she is the one who's husband is a non-member but has just started going to church. We had an amazing night with them, and I have never felt closer to the feeling of being with you guys than I have when I'm with them. We played games, laughed at funny stories, and were taught an amazing lesson about trust. Her husband is such a great man, and I know he's going to join the church. I'm praying that he is my first baptism on the mission. Heavenly Father is definitely preparing his family to be together forever! It's such a beautiful thing, and I would ask that you all to include the Mazzone family in your prayers so that we can see them enter the temple and be sealed for eternity! Che bella!!! Miracoli ci sono!
Well this was the week! It's going so good and I'm loving it. I'm having the biggest spiritual journey of my life, I'm having way too much fun, and I'm making some eternal friends. Who wouldn't want to serve a mission? Ya, you give a few things up for a little while, but you gain so much more! I'm too lucky to be serving here at this time. Wow. Well, I wish you all the best! Grazie per i vostri esempi per me! Vi voglio bene! Vi amo! Prego per voi ogni giorno! Alla prossima!
Con amore,
Anziano Clay Lacey
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