Walking on Water - 7/25/16

Ehi  famiglia!

I hope everyone is had a great week. I know I did. Because in this companionship, we “walk on water.” (...referring to Peter walking on the water in the New Testament…please see the paragraph near the end of the letter). 

This week started with the Questura. So, not exactly something that's fun...but it's necessary for living in Italy. So we went there and they were closed. We come back the next morning...the same thing. We just kinda just bagged it and will go this next week for my permesso. So yay!!!

Anyways, continuing on - sadly, we have no new investigators this week. Next week will be the week of new investigators though. We have adopted a new system of dropping old investigators and potentials. On the bright side, we have our great investigator DM.

DM is converted. The dude loves the gospel and knows it's true. So we set a firm baptismal date for the 13th of August. He can't wait for that day. We will be trying to get his dad on board. The other day DM was going around telling people that the Book of Mormon was his favorite book and he reads every day. Mi raccomando. Anyways - he is the bomb.

Then A is doing great on her “Stop Smoking” plan. This next weekend she will be at 0 and then she will never smoke again. Yay! We made her Mormon cigarettes to help stop. They have scriptures written on paper - hahah.

Anyways, today for P-day we went to Cefalu. That was super fun but I feel like it wasn't smartest to go hike in church clothes....Boh. So all in all it was a really fun and good day. I love the mission.

Ok, the title of this post (Walking on Water) is our companionship power phrase. It was kind of a challenge from President to get everyone to choose one. To us, this basically signifies walking with the Lord. We kind of imagine what it would have been like when Peter walked on the water with the Lord. It takes a lot of faith, but we can do it. (See Matthew 14:29). And when our faith waivers, He will always pick us up when we fall.

Also - read Alma 5. I love that chapter. (Click here to read Alma 5!)

I love all of y'all. I'll send a lot of pics.

Anz Ridd

PS - The mission office address has changed as of July 2016. Here is the new address for letters or packages: 

Anziano Lukas Ridd
c/o Missione Italiana di Roma
Piazza Monte Gemma 9
00141  Rome, Italy

I Have Ripened - 7/18/16

Dear Family,

Wow, this week took a long time. I hope you guys enjoyed yourself. Italy was beautiful, as usual. Actually a bit more so toward the end of the week. The weather was just brilliant.

Ok – well, this week was kinda crazy. We had transfers, and because of a capi conference in Rome, I kinda was the guy who ran them in Palermo. On Tuesday I had my last day with Big Daddy Jensen (Anziano Jensen). Then he left Wednesday morning and I had a day with Anz Whitaker. That was pretty sick cause we saw a Villa Whitaker while finding together. Then on Thursday he left and I did finding that day with Anz Whited.  We took like 5 trips back and forth to the station that day. Then that night I finally got with my new comp Anziano Cowden. So I had 4 comps in 4 days - hahahah. So yeah.

Anziano Cowden and I get along very well. I am so pumped for this next transfer. We are taking Palermo by storm and we are looking forward to great success. So excited. Anyways, he is from Utah, is a fan of U of U, plays rugby, and is self-described as "a chill guy who likes pizza." He is in the same transfer as Anz Jensen, 12th.

We didn't get to meet with a ton of people this week, but DM is still being awesome. A is working on quitting smoking. So we keep praying. We are working on finding a ton of new investigators and already have a bunch of appointments for next week. AYYH. And I get my permesso next week.

Today was Anziano Ray's birthday. Now he's a man and 20 years old. He got a fat brioshe for his birthday, and we saw the Duomo of Palermo again.

But yeah, so I was like a green tomato, but now I'm like a tomato that's yellowish and almost fully ripe. Cheers to not being a full greenie anymore.

Love y'all. Have a joyful week.

Anz Ridd

First Transfers with the Pickerds! 7/11/16

Hey family!

This week was super interesting because it was my first transfer that changed things for me. And oh man, things changed quite a bit. It is exciting so I'm putting it first. So, first of all - I am not transferred!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! I am so happy. I would have been devastated if I had to leave already; there is so much work to do here and I love being with this ward. Not to mention that I am getting pumped for DM. But Anziano Jensen is transferred to Foggia. I wish him luck, and replacing him here is Anziano Cowden. He just trained Anziano Hansen, a bro from the MTC. Anziano Moraes also is getting transferred to be a ZL in Rome 3. I am gonna miss him a ton too. Anziano McKenna will replace him in Palermo. I am super excited to see all the change, but it will be sad to see my family here leave.

Ok, so that's how transfers went in my house. So the future house will be Anziano Ray, McKenna, Cowden, and me. Che figo!

Our big investigators are still A and DM. But we did have a good new investigator this week, AN. So A is still trying to stop smoking; she's going about it her own way, and doesn't really like to be pushed too much. So we have been providing support and helping her quit. In the meantime, we have been helping her build her testimony. She really has a forte testimony, and just needs to learn to trust in the Lord more and have that faith. She also came to church again.

DM is a BEAST. I love him so much. This week we talked about his baptism, because if all goes well, it will be on the 30th. He said he just needs to talk to his dad a bit about it. He  was kind of unsure about that, so we offered to talk with his dad with him. He said that would be awesome, so this week we hope to talk with him and his dad. He is such a great guy, but sadly he didn't get to come to church this Sunday. Next time we will see of we can get him and his dad to church though.

AN is new, and he kinda has a job...but not exactly. He watches people’s cars for them. But that gives him a lot of time to talk about the gospel. So he is cool, and he actually knows the Bible more that 90% of the people here. That's a big plus because if people actually know what the Bible says and are educated about religion - they see truth easier. So we are looking forward to teaching him a lot more in the future.

We did a scambio this week too. I went to Trapani with Anziano Olsen. He is super sick and it was fun to get to work with him. We did a ton of finding there and also did English course there. It was fun; the English course students there are super sick.

Ok, today was fun. We did whatever Moraes and Jensen wanted because they are leaving. We we played some frisbee, went to Zara, and then got arancini and brioche with A, J, S and G. I love spending time with them - they are the "young single adults" and investigators.

I love the work and can't wait for the adventures which are to come. For me, this week was a week of goals and actions. In reality, how can we become better or accomplish anything without these?

As a smart man once said, Just Do It.

Love y'all,
Anziano Ridd

PS - There is an African the other Anziani met who is a guy and is named Hillary Clinton. Can I vote for him?