Week 10 - 4th of July, Calcio, and Cold Showers

"Ciao Everyone!

I hope everything is going just splendid back home! Things are just as great and as hot as ever here in Italy haha. I have to admit, I am kind of jealous of all those people that get to swim in the ocean and play on the beach. But, it's okay, I found a solution. I just take cold showers during lunch time. It's the BEST! ;)

On a side note, I DID find some soccer shoes my size at Nike. That was my birthday gift to me! Woo! :D

As for the week, we don't currently have any really progressing investigators, so we do a lot of finding. The other day, we did what we call a "Mostra" or a "show" right outside where the new church in Ostia is being built. We passed out a lout of flyers and tried talking to people on the street. Eventually, a man came out of one of the nearby buildings with his buddy and tried to tell us we couldn't be there and we were disturbing the peace. Little did he know that we have a permit from the city... Watcha!! In his face! Thanks to the wonderful Spirit that enlightens the minds of missionaries from time to time, we were even able to turn the conversation into one of a more spiritual nature. He is totally super interested in the church now and wants to meet us again.

As Nacho Libre would say, "Baptized!". mwaha

I think I am getting better at soccer...maybe? I still get my butt kicked by the Italians here and especially by the South American members in my ward! Lucky for me, I can still use the excuse that I'm a lowly American and I have hardly ever played soccer before. Every time I tell somebody that, they take it upon themselves as a personal honor to teach me the rules of the game (because its cool to teach American's how to play soccer the REAL way). However, they still show no mercy.

 Yes, the new mission president is super cool. He is a nice guy, and luckily, he didn't come into the mission guns blazing and ready to put on all these new restrictions on missionaries or anything.

Also, after coming here, I have to say that we are so SO blessed to live in America!  Don't get me wrong, I love Italy, the people, and the culture, but America really is the promised land.  I felt extra full of American pride on the 4th.  My companion and I actually had a little mini party that night where we made a flame thrower out of a lighter and hairspray...haha probably not the best idea we have ever had!  Let me rephrase that...probably not the best idea HE ever had, because I never even thought of doing that before he suggested it!  The things missionaries do when we are bored...:P

I also got to teach English Course this week all by myself! It was probably the scariest experience of my life, but it actually went fairly well. I'm now super proud of myself. I've never actually taught a whole class or lesson for an entire hour before. I made sure to celebrate after with Gelato!

We have an upcoming baptism for Michele Cevallos this week. He is the 8 year old in our ward who's mom is a less active member and his dad is catholic. I am super stoked! He has a great testimony, and we are hoping that his example will help soften the heart of his father so we can teach him a little more.

Well, that is all for this week! The mission is great! The language is...coming along, let's say, and the church is still true!

Love you all!

love,

Anziano Jared Burnham

 P.S.  We have a random dog and cat that always come say hi to us when we leave our door open during study time.  I wasn't able to get a picture of the dog, but I wanted to send you a picture of my companion with Elder Whiskers! :D  The other photos are just random ones from my week.  We had Zone Conference, so I took random pictures with other missionaries :D"

Me and my comp, Anziano Smith :) 

Me and Elder Del Dotto. He gave me a tie for my birthday :D

 At zone conference!

My mission President and the tallest and shortest missionaries in the mission at Zone Conference.

 My super sweet Calcietta shoes!

My companion with Elder Whiskers :)

Week 9 - 20th Birthday, New Mission President and Zone Conference

"Ciao Everyone!

Sorry this email will probably be a little short. I don't have much time today. But first, thanks for the Happy Birthday and the money!  I might use it to buy some better soccer shoes or something.  We have been playing a lot of soccer here in Italy, and I really need to stop falling over!

I'm glad everyone is doing so well back home.  Things are pretty good over here.  I know what you mean about the weather being hot over there.  It is pretty hot over here, too!

This past week, my companion and I took a trip down to Fondi to contact some ex investigators.  There, we met up with an African from Gana named, Agostine.  He is very religious and very interested in our message.  He invited two of his friends to listen in when we came over, and they all bought us a ton of food and made us take it all with us when we left!  It was pretty awesome, and they were all super nice.  The only problem is, we found out that Fondi is just outside our area, so now we have to hand them off to some of the missionaries in an area right over Napoli...

We've also been working with a little boy named Michele who wants to be baptized.  I think I may have talked about him before.  I just want to repeat that I FREAKING LOVE THAT FAMILY!  The two little boys, Luis and Michele, are super cool and they always want to show us their pokemon cards and their toys.  I also found a way to relate to their non-member father when they pulled out the old guitar from the closet and wanted me to play it for them.  The father plays a little bit, too, and when I started playing, that kind of opened him up to actually talking to us missionaries instead of locking himself in his room the whole time we were there.

...One small step at a time!

We also had my second Zone Conference on my birthday.  Everyone got to meet the new President, President Whaddoups (I can't remember exactly how to spell it).  He is really cool.  I think he was some kind of state official or something before becoming mission President?  I don't remember exactly.

Other than that, this week was a lot of mostly tracting and finding.

Until next time!

love,

Anziano Jared Burnham"

Week 8 - Staying up Past Midnight, Disastrous Sunday, and "Elder Burnham's First Vision"

"Dear Family,

It is so good to hear that everything is going well at home! 

This week has been quite the interesting one!  Just recently, we started meeting with a part member family from Ecuador in our ward.  The mother invited us over to teach her son, Michele, as he is coming of age to be baptized.  She wants him to take all the lessons and choose for himself.  There family is awesome!  The kids, Michele and Luis, like to show us all of their Pokemon cards when we go over.  Let me just say...there are way too many Pokemon now!  I only know the first 150 and they look at me like I'm an idiot haha.

The father in their family is someone we want to focus on as well.  He is not a member and he kind of has a little bit of a closed view on the church because of a previous incident with his wife, Monica, who is a member.  However, we have started talking with him more, and we want to invite him to sit in on the lessons with Michele instead of locking himself in his room...keep your fingers crossed!

Sunday was a disaster.  We tried to hold a church service in Latina, but we got there late and nobody showed up.  Actually...two people tried to but left when we weren't there.  Stupid beach side traffic!  It is so crowded here in Ostia because Ostia is a beach town and the summer just started...so everyone and their dog is going to the beach.  So, when we tried to drive down to Latina with Fratello Menice (our First Councilor in the ward), we got stuck behind a ton of traffic.

Monday night was also quite the adventure!  That night, we went over to the Fresta's house for our usual Family Night activity.  When we got there, nobody was there.  We tried calling the Fresta's and the only response we got was "no family night tonight".  It was weird...so we ate pizza at a local place nearby and planned our next move.  Luckily, another member walked by and invited us to her place for family night.  Halfway through, Carmello and Emiliano Fresta showed up ranting about Tina (Carmello's mom) and something she did, and something about how someone who goes to the temple shouldn't be so wicked...blah blah blah.  It was crazy but we got it all figured out!

After Family Night, we walked the Sisters to their apartment in the middle of the city because we got out late.  Now...this is the good part...when Anziano Smith and I finally got to the Metro station, THE GATES WERE CLOSED!  There was a strike that day and the Train and buses for ATAC all shut down..So, we walked all the way from Ostia Lido Centro to Centro Giano on the side of an Italian highway with no sidewalk in the middle of the night!  Nobody could come pick us up, and we had no other way of getting home.  I felt like such a rebel staying up past midnight.  WOO APOSTATE! haha just kidding!

Well, that's all for this week.  I hope everything is going just super back home!  The mission is great and the church is still true!

Love,

Anziano Jared Burnham

P.S.  I am sending a picture of me and my companion at McDonald's on our walk back to Centro Giano.  

The second picture is of Elder Burnham's First Vision ;D"

 

Week 7 - New Companion and a Harley Davidson Festival,

"Ciao Everyone!

I hope everything is going alright back home!  Tell everyone I miss them and they are great.  (of course, my favorite people are the ones who send me emails ;) )

   The mail is weird here in Rome...so mission office is the best place to send letters and packages!

  Things are actually going really well here in Italy.  I had some really cool experiences here in the last week.  Yeah, sometimes I get down about something, or the work is hard, but I usually get over it pretty quick.  I LOVE Italy and the people here! And...the office literally just called to tell me that my contacts finally got here!! WOOOHOOOO!! YES!!!

Anyway, my new companion is awesome.  His name is Anziano Smith.  He is from Roy (near Ogden I think), and he is a super motivated and energetic missionary.  Him and I have a lot of fun doing a lot of work together.  He is kind of a redneck, but in a hilarious way.  Let's just say...he says "tractor" like "tracker" sometimes when he gets excited and his accent comes out.  I'll defintely be sure to send a picture of him and I. He is a super fun guy and you can tell he just loves his mission.  

On our first day in Ostia together, Anziano Smith and I went down near Gasparri, an area where a lot of our members live, and there was a Harley Davidson festival going on down there near the harbor.  It was so cool!  I have never seen so many beautiful motorcycles!  And, I don't think I've been more proud to be an American than when a bunch of bikes rode past with American guys and their bandanas down the streets of Ostia and all the Italians were watching and saying, "oooo", "aaaa", "Americani". Hahaha It was so cool!  

 I will send some pictures of the festival for you to see! :D

For the most part, we spent this last week doing finding and meeting a lot of the ward members who we are trying to work with.  On Saturday, we played Calcio (soccer) or Calcietta (a five on five version of soccer) with the Padilla family and some of their friends.  It was super fun but I am absolutely terrible!  Their whole family is from Peru, and soccer is their life.  I felt like a total noob...but we now have one potential investigator out of the friends they brought, so overall, I think it was a success! 

I also ate my first crab pasta for family night at the Fresta's house.  It was pasta with literally whole crabs in it.  The idea was to eat the noodles and then break open the crabs and suck out the meat...it was interesting and messy, but it was SOOOO good!

We recently recontacted one of our investigators that was avoiding me and Ginolfi.  I may have told you about him before, his name is, Luciano.  He has a great testimony and he knows its true, but he gets down and gives up a lot because he has a serious problem smoking.  We are starting to work with him again, and I am really excited to help him come closer to Christ.  Keep your fingers crossed!  

I apologize for my terrible English these days.  This Italian is messing me up, and I don't have time to go back and proof read.  I just want to end by saying that I know the church is true, and thank you all for all the support!

Until next time,

Anziano Jared Burnham

Week 6 - City of Sermoneta

(Jared's mom forgot to forward me the email from this week, so I'm including some of the comments he sent in an email to me)

"Ciao!

First off, I'm sorry that it took so long to send you an email today.  We spent all morning in Gaeta at a hiking spot.  Gaeta is a really cool ocean side town about an hour and a half train ride away from Termini.  I will attach pictures to this email if I don't forget.

 I'm sorry about the guys here...they are pigs...seriously.  Their entire culture revolves around "love" but they often confuse "love" with lust and sex...it's terrible.  And they don't respect women much...especially since a lot of the American vacationing women come here to meet and sleep with Italian guys...Its just all bad.  That's just one of the many reasons that they need us Missionaries to teach them the way to true happiness :D  So, like I said, be careful of those Italian men!  Don't let them kiss you!  Haha and the guys who calls you his girlfriend...totally flirting with you.  The old men go after the younger women, too...so...be careful!

Well, enough about that!  And to answer one of your questions, the reason I have people send me letters to the mission office is because I go there fairly often, and its more reliable than where I am living.  And I did get your letters!  Thank you thank you thank you so much!! haha that post card you sent was super cute :D  

Anyway, I should probably answer the rest of your questions!  I get a new/follow up trainer because Ginolfi is dying/going home.  So they are keeping me here, and I become companions with Elder Smith tomorrow.  He's a hunter and a red head, but people tell me he's awesome...so we'll see!  But ya, usually greenies stay with their trainer for at least two transfers but I'm just a special case I guess :D

This week has been pretty busy, not because we have a lot of appointments, but because Anziano Ginolfi is going home.  We have been running around doing a few last minute things outside of our appointments.  Here in Ostia, aside from our normal appointments with less actives, Mangiacotti (the guy who feeds us a ton), and the Fresta family, we have mostly been tracting.  All of our investigators right now are in Latina!  So, we only see them usually once and sometimes twice a week.  It's just hard to get there because the train costs money and we can't go very often.  When we do go, it's an all day event.

Speaking of Latina, the last time we went was this last Tuesday, and we went to a nearby city on a mountain called, Sermoneta.  It is the coolest place ever!  I felt like I was stepping into the past.  The city is built around a castle, and all the houses are inside castle walls and  built into walls that have been standing for hundreds and maybe thousands of years!  It is a pretty small town, and we tracted the whole thing in maybe 2 hours, but it was super cool and we even met one guy who is actually really interested!  Which gives us an excuse to go back to that awesome city ;)  (I'll include pics :D)

I also met the Banchini family recently.  They are members and their sons just recenlty were baptized.  By their house, there is a mall that is exclusively just FOOD.  It is literally called, "Eataly".  However, everything is super expensive because apparently its all supposed to be super good.  I beg to differ...the gelato wasn't THAT great haha

love,

Anziano Jared Burnham

P.S. I sent some pictures of Sermoneta, but I will send more in another email because I want you to see how cool it is! :D  And Gaeta is not as cool so I decided that one can wait haha"

Week 5 - First Baptism!

"Ciao Mom and Everyone!

It is good to hear everyone is doing so well.  Dang, I just realized that all my nieces and nephews are going to be so old by the time I get back...that will be weird! 

Yes, I got my ATM card and I have activated it, but I have not yet recieved my contacts.  I will be checking at the mission office today to see if they are there.  I have my fingers crossed!  Many people have told me not to worry about it because I look good in glasses...but I'd definitely be a lot more comfortable without a weird metal/glass/plastic contraption on my face!

Anyway, this week was pretty awesome.  We had Stefano's baptism on Saturday!! WOOOO!!!  It was great!  The Spirit was really strong and it was amazing to see how excited and ready Stefano was.  He was definitely an example to me, and I've learned a lot from him.  I feel like he was the one teaching me, and not the other way around.  When we confirmed him on Sunday, he could hardly keep still in his seat.  As soon as they called his name, he basically bolted up to the front of the room before the bishop was even done speaking! (I will try to send some pictures of the baptism in this email)

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week.  We had DM on Monday in Ladispoli, and once again went to Serrata Famigliare (family night) with the Fresta family.  I have decided to start learning some Italian songs on guitar.  Carmello told me he would teach me.

Speaking of which, you should look up Carmello Fresta on youtube! Haha he has some pretty hilarious videos and a few pretty good songs.  (he's not the best singer, but he knows how to write music).  If you get the chance, try to find his song "Porta mi con te" or in the English Translation "Bring me with you".  I'd say that's his best one.  He also has a bunch of just funny videos of him and his brother.  So, if you want to know the kind of people I'm hanging out with all the time here in Italy, those videos may be a fairly accurate representation.

Random event of the week: My companion and I were walking on the road that goes by the beach down to Gasparri (where many of our members live) AKA the Ghetto of Ostia, when we were approached by the RedBull girls at the pier.  They gave us free Italian RedBull and some kind of Mozarella chips that were SO FREAKING GOOD.  I have one thing to say about the cheese here, some of it is just absolutely disgusting, but Italian Mozarella is fantastic.

So far, I haven't had any experiences with anyone getting angry with us or anyone who doesn't like the missionaries.  The people seem very warm and friendly here.  In fact, we had a nice old catholic lady approach us the other day and just tell us how much she loves us and she knows we are doing a good work.  Basically what I'm trying to say is, Italy is freaking sweet!  I love the people, I love the work (even though my feet hurt and of course its not easy), and I love the Gospel.  The church is true and I love you all!

Until next time,

Love,

Anziano Jared Burnham"

Week 4 - Bus Caught on Fire, Soccer, & Future Baptism

Ciao Tutti!

I hope everyone is having an awesome time back home!  This week was pretty interesting.  Although, I do think I'm starting to get into the rhythm of things here in Italy...maybe. 

As far as the mission work goes, we have one baptism this coming Saturday for Stefano.  Last Saturday, I went on an exchange with our Zone Leader, Anziano Ferrero, to interview Stefano while my companion and his went to Latina to do a "Mostra", or show, and invite people to a church service we would be holding in Latina the next day.  During the interview, Stefano asked me to baptize him...I'm freaking nervous!  My first baptism!  What if I accidently drown him?? AAAAHHH! Although, I hardly did any of the work.  Ginolfi is the one who started teaching Stefano.  Stefano and his friend Massimo (a strange kind of inactive member) asked me to baptize Stefano since Massimo can't.  I couldn't understand all that they said, but Massimo said it was because he just really likes me and I am "bravissimo" or "really good". haha so yea...I'm super excited, but really nervous :D

That Sunday we held a church service in Latina.  We had an attending audience of about...one.  Rosalba was the only one who showed up, but it ended up being really good because we were able to have a really good discussion with her.  The Bishop was AWESOME and really helped answer a lot of her questions.  The Spirit was very strong in that lesson, and during our mini sacrament service.  I know she felt it too...because she kept saying so.  Also, turns out that the name of Rosalba's husband is Lino, and he called while we were with her.  He asked if I wanted him to take anything back with him from my family when he comes back.  Guess when he comes back?  July 2nd!  I should have said yes, but for some reason I hadn't thought anyone was planning to send a package...and I totally forgot it was my birthday!  So, if you DO end up finding him.  Maybe you could send the package with him?  But seriously, I don't really need anything.  The best gift would just be extra money to buy ties and some slacks here in Italy...and snacks :)  And I wouldn't mind cheez-its or any kind of AMERICAN snackfood because the snacks here are not as good.

Oh ya, I also played my first game of Calcio (soccer) here in Italy.  Some of these guys are really good!  I looked like a fool in a skinny blue shirt and short shorts that I borrowed from a member, but we all still had a good time.  We played with some kids that were in the park that day, and they kicked my butt!  I would have taken pictures to send you guys, but I forgot my camera in a member's apartment along with my backpack.

Also, yesterday, our bus caught on fire.  It was really exciting, and we all had to get off the bus and wait for another one to pick us up.  Yay for Italian ghetto public transportation!

Well, that's all for this week.  Tell everyone I love them!  The work is great and the church is true. :)