Scirocco = Devil Winds

President Waddoups and Anziano Ridd at the Specialized Training meeting. 
Presidente & Sorella Waddoups complete their 3-year mission at the end of June,
at which time the new mission president will begin his mission.

Dear Family,

This week was interesting. We had a lot of bidone (people not coming to lessons/canceling) and so we also had a lot of finding. That was pretty good because we needed to get some good new investigators. Sadly, we only have potential investigators right now, but next week we have a lot more to work with!

We had Specialized Training on Wednesday. The Zone Leaders, Anziano Moraes and Anziano Ray, did a great job. The gave lots of emphasis on whose errand we are on. This was also the last time we got to see President and Sister Waddoups before they left. They are great, and it will be an interesting change when the Pickerds arrive. I guess it's not a massive deal for me yet, because I have only been here for 1 whole transfer.

So then on Thursday we did a Scambio with the ZL's. Anziano Ray and I had a lot of lessons planned but all got bidone except for one. But..that was because…

THURSDAY WAS HOT. Like, not just your casual, "Oh man, I'm walking in an oven today" hot...more like, "I just took a bath in habanero peppers, then sat in a sauna with heaters blowing on me for a day" HOT. So. What is a “Scirocco,” you ask? Well, I suppose in Texas it would be the the opposite of a cold front. But 10000x worse. So it's when hot winds from Africa come over the sea (and get hotter and more humid) and into Sicily. Wow, typing that up made it sound so much more lame. Let's make it insane like it was again. As described by a member, God is using his blow dryer. Pretty much, the wind was strong and hotter than the other air. But it was so hot that when we were walking down the street, the trash in the road caught on fire. So hot that there was absolutely no one on the streets of centro. All 5 bidone were because it was hot. So hot that the wheels on the buses caught on fire so they didn't have buses that day. So hot that 3 mountains around us caught on fire (well, between the heat and Mafia). It got up to 47°C which is like 114°F. And that doesn't account for the "wind grill!" Lucky enough, the next day was not that bad.

Sunday was a bit rainy in the morning. That's never a good sign, because it seems to me that Italians don't take weather changes very well. Sadly the sign foretold the truth - we didn't get most of our investigators to church. Either because of the weather or "other stuff." Because of this, we moved one baptismal date further out. Also, on Sunday afternoon we ate at FL's house. I feel like I eat like 6,000 calories at one meal every time I eat at someone's house. It hurts - but tastes good.

Anyways, today was zone calcio, and Palermo 1 district claimed victory. We are pretty much the best! Hahahha! It was tons of fun. I love playing, because last time I played I stunk. But I have come a long way and now I'm half decent. Not saying soccer is the coolest sport, but it's really growing on me. Besides it’s like the only sport we get to play.

So in my personal study, most of the time I do a similar thing - read a couple chapters of the Book of Mormon, then study for investigators; but this week I decided to start to look into some cool topics. One thing I found that I really liked was the talk by President Uchtdorf in 2009 October conference called The Love of God. I recommend it. (Click here to read or listen). The other one that I want everyone to read/watch if they can is Elder Holland's 2009 October talk, Safety for the Soul (Click here to read or watch Safety for the Soul).

I didn't take tons of pics so I'll send what I got. I saw another super sick motorcycle.

I love y'all!

Anziano Ridd

Another super sick motorcycle

Photo credit: Waddoups' Rome Mission Blog
romeitalymission.blogspot.com

PC: Waddoups' Rome Mission blog

Palermo Zone 
PC: Waddoups' Rome Mission blog

PC: Waddoups' Rome Mission blog