Hey everyone!
I decided to start a blog for Jared (Anziano Burnham) to post emails and pictures that he sends home so his friends/family can follow his life while he serves his mission for two years in Rome, Italy.
Of course, I'm not going to post anything too personal that he sends in emails to me or his family, but rather the stuff about his investigators, culture, people, etc... So without further adieu, here's week one :)
(After the first day of being in Italy)
"Ciao!
Hey,
I am just sending this email to let you all know that I made it to Italy
safely! It was kind of a crazy experience. Two elders missed the
flight in Chicago, practically baptized the first person I talked to (Eve
Franky) on the plane to Chicago, and when we got to Italy, 20 or so
missionaries were stuck at the airport because the mission President didn't
know when we were arriving...it was a mess! Luckily, we got it all
figured out and we all made it to the mission home before the night.
My
first Italian dinner consisted of salad, homemade bread, and REAL
lasagna. It was great! I found out that my first area is Ostia (a
Rome suburb by the beach). My new companion is Elder Ginolfi, and I meet
him today. Apparently he's a stud and used to be a quarterback before his
mission. This is his last transfer before he goes home...this could be
interesting!
I
also finally realized for real that I don't know ANY Italian...yay...haha
Anyway,
the mission home is awesome and apparently super expensive. It's an old
three story home in the middle of the city. I'm already loving it
here! I can't wait until my body adjusts to the humidity...and I can't
wait to actually learn Italian :P"
(After the first week of being in Italy)
"I had
a very interesting first week out here! My mission
president is super cool. He has really relaxed rules, because he believes
in the missionaries being accountable to themselves. Basically, if you
are not feeling the Spirit, then find out why and change it! He is really
nice, and his wife is a sweetheart!
Right off the plane, I got
sick. I am just now today getting my voice back, and I stopped having a
fever on Sunday. For the first few days, I had a fever that breached over
101. It was pretty bad. With the humidity and the heat, I felt like
I was constantly in a furnace!
Me,
being the dumby that I am, I was too stubborn to not go out and do missionary
work, so I didn't let my companion know I needed to stay in and rest. I
didn't want to spend the first week of my mission in bed! So, with much
praying, and a little witch doctor magic from one of the sisters (consisting of
lemons, pepper, honey, and oils that reminded me of Mom) I set out and just
sucked it up and went to work.
My
trainer is Anziano Ginolfi. He is on his last transfer here in Rome, and
he is a pretty cool guy! He is really easy going, but he also works hard and loves the people. He knows how to work
and have fun at the same time. He definitely made it easy for me to
transition.
We
also work a lot with the sisters here. We all recently went to Latina to
contact some less actives. The sisters took care of the less active
sisters, and we searched out the men. Mostly, nobody was home.
However, we were able to contact the wife of a less active member, and she
seems very interested in the church. She wants us to come back soon and
teach her the lessons. YES!
On
my first day I met our two active investigators, Luciano and Stefano.
Stefano is basically the perfect investigator. When the missionaries
started teaching him, he had already read the Book of Mormon and he knows its
true. Basically, all we need to do is teach him the lessons, extend
commitments, and dunk him! He is the coolest guy :D
Luciano
has been recieving lessons for a while. He is also a really nice guy and
you can tell he has a lot of faith. I think the one thing he lacks is his
own faith in himself. He struggles with a few things he just can't yet
seem to get over. So for now, we are just loving him and helping him the
best we can.
I
don't understand a word of what anyone is saying! It doesn't help that I
lost my voice and I can't tell them I don't know what they are saying. I
finally am starting to put pieces together, but I still can't say much, and if
I could, my voice isn't completely back yet either....it's kind of a silly
situation and I just have to laugh at the irony!
Other
than that, Rome is awesome! Or more specifically, the Ostia area is
sweet! I love it over here and all the people are so cool. I
expected the people to be more stiff seeing as I live in a city, but I guess
people are only more stiff right in the center of Rome because the people here
are super nice! This one old lady on the bus once started talking to me as
if we were best friends and she had known me forever. I didn't understand
half of what she
was saying, but I smiled and laughed and said a few things
like "I agree" and "yes, definitely" which was apparently
enough to keep her going hahaAnyway,
that's it for now! The mission is great! I'm loving it here, and I
love the people here!"
My companion is awesome!
The mission home!
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