Thanksgiving is Gone; Now Light the World!

Awesome Thanksgiving feast, thanks to the Hydes!

Hey family!

So this week was decently eventful, and sadly it wasn't because we baptized anyone. 

Ok, well I'll hit the work first. It goes well. Not the best, but we are searching for the elect and that takes some work and a lot of changing on our part. That's why I have been loving Moroni 8:16. "Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

So the sad thing is we didn't teach a ton this week. The good thing, we taught Ev and his family - including his son who now has a baptismal date and is the most athletic 9-year old ever. They came to church on Sunday, and next week Ev will receive the Priesthood. That's super cool, because it means that he will be able to baptize his son!!!! Other than that, things were pretty low key.

Key events. Thanksgiving- we went to the questura - that took like 5 hours of my life, but we got it done. Then the Hydes were AMAZING and made us a Thanksgiving feast! They had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, broccoli with holiday sauce and pumpkin cake. So to say the least, we are spoiled! That was fun. 

Next key event, ANZIANO YOUNGBLOOD HAD A BIRTHDAY, SHOUT HURRAY!!  So his birthday was yesterday. We made pancakes for breakfast and then ate cake at a member's house. It was super nice and fun. He is now 19, which is a useless age... trust me. Might as well donate it to a good cause. 

Other than that, our Pday event will consist of going to a park and playing with a Christmas gift I opened early. It was in the shape of a football. We are excited. 

This Christmas go to Mormon.org and Be a Light. (Or, Light the World in English). It's a super awesome way to get into the Christmas spirit and all of us here in Italy are pumped to do it as well! Click here to watch a 2+ minute video to get into the Light the World Christmas spirit! There will be an updated service idea each day from December 1st through 25th, for those interested. 

Love y'all! 

Anziano Ridd

The Scampia Bro Bacio - 11/21/2016

Castel Nuovo, better known locally as Maschio Angioino. Naples, Italy.

Hey Family, 

Happy Thanksgiving week!!!

This week was pretty sweet and was super busy because of transfers. 

So on Monday night we received transfer calls, and I got lucky and get to stay here with Anziano Youngblood to finish my training. I was kinda scared because recently some trainers had been split from their trainees. I am really excited about that, because it means we get to spend his birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas together. And almost New Years and my birthday...but we will see about those. 

Then my trainer, Anziano Jensen, spent a night here and we got to do a mini scambio when he passed on his way to his last city, Argrigento. That was a cool thing. Interesting things about transfers - I'm still the DL, and the new ZL is Anziano Berger. He is from Michigan and is such a beast at missionary work…and swimming. He swims for BYU like my buddy Ryan Sorenswim. 

This week our work went pretty well. We are teaching a couple named “Mc” and “Mi.” Mi is pregnant, and they are super excited to become parents. They also accepted a baptismal date for the 30th of December. Then we are teaching a Ukrainian lady named “An.” She is superb. She has a huge desire to grow her faith in Christ, and find what is missing in her life. Sadly, none of them came to church. So we will see how things shake out. This week was super cool for finding potentials. Next week will tell if they are all good or bad. 

We also are now teaching a new convert named “Ev.” He and his wife are members that are from Togo. Their son is 9 and not baptized so we will be working with him to help him get there. They are an awesome family and I love them so much! 

Ok, my thought today is one of my favorite scriptures as of the last week. It's Moroni 8:16 which says, "Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." This verse is the bomb. It talks about all the things I love the most: Repentance, Boldness, Authority (Priesthood), and Love. But the part I will point out specifically is "perfect love casteth out all fear." When we have enough love of Christ, we will never fear to do what is right, even if it is hard. So next time we think of something nice to do for someone else, do it. Don't fear doing the right. Don't fear sharing the gospel of Christ. We do it out of love, and we do not fear men, or the rejection of men.  

Time for the funny story and the title explanation. Yesterday, we were on an escalator and there was a HUGE Italian behind us. I'm talking, 6'5" and built massively, and kinda scary-looking. So I turned toward him and we made eye contact. He immediately asks if we are English. We reply that we are American and he gets super happy. We talk for a bit and we learn he plays rugby. As we talk, I notice not only is he huge, but he is missing half of 2 fingers, so it adds to the huge scary dude look. He is from Scampia, which is in our area, and he loves Jesus. We talk for a bit longer, become bros or "fratime." We part ways after getting his number, and we bacio, the normal Italian 2 cheek style. Normal stuff; I kiss people on the cheeks all the time. But he tells me in Scampia they bacio (kiss) differently because they are heart brothers. So he shows me with his buddy. They kiss each other on the cheek, then on the lips...I never expected that from a huge guy like that...so when we go teach him I guess we will see what happens (Please note - I have not kissed a man on the lips...yet.) 

Anyways, one can see that my week and life are great. Anziano Youngblood and I are slaying it, and our house is super clean and pretty! We are prepping for Christmas. Thanks, Mom!!!

Love all y'all! 

Anziano Ridd

We Love Jesus Christ and Follow Him, and Are Here to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts - 11/14/16

This morning, dropping off Anziano Gay

Hey Family!!!! 

This week we heard about the elections. As missionaries, we have given the response above to like 500 people who wanted to know our opinions about it. Anyways, it was really funny on Tuesday when we got asked about it and we asked in return, "Who won?"

The work this week went pretty well. Kinda like the normal rollercoaster - there were ups and downs. C is gone...he didn't show up to our appointment and he wasn't at church this Sunday, so I guess if he shows up, he does. If not...that's laaammmme. Then we did a bunch of finding this week, and it went well. We found 6 new investigators and a bunch of new contacts, so we hope all goes well with them. Sadly, this week we didn’t have anybody in church, but we hope for next week as we invite all these new investigators.

Interesting happenings this week...Saturday we went Caserta to go to the baptism of E from Togo. He is actually a part of our branch, so we might be doing the new convert lessons with him. His son will probably do those with us and he can see if he wants to be baptized too. That would be great. 

Napoli has so many Nativity scenes for Christmas.
It's super famous.

Anyways, today Anziano Gay "died" (completed his mission and is heading home) and so this week we will be in a trio with Anziano Spencer. So it should be interesting. My tribute to Anziano Gay is that he was a great missionary who gave his all to the work, and in the end saw miracles. I think he is a great example for all of us. 

With Anziano Gay dying, we see that transfers are this week. We will get our calls tonight. I am hoping and thinking I will stay. Anziano Youngblood and I work together really well and are great friends. We will for sure get a new ZL, so that will be at least one change to our District. I am so excited for this next transfer, because we are gonna hit it so hard. Every change in the mission is great because I can change something to become better during those times.

My thought today is that everyone reading this should take a bit of time and read the talk, "If Ye Had Known Me" by Elder Bednar. It is a great talk and a great place to start growing in our relationship with Christ. (Click here to read or listen to this talk). 

We might be going to the catacombs today. We will see!!! I love all of you!

Love, 

Anziano Ridd          

Rome Italy Mission, after the conference with President Nelson in October
Photo Credit: pickerdsitalyromemission.blogspot.co.uk

President & Sister Nelson, with President & Sister Pickerd
Photo Credit: http://pickerdsitalyromemission.blogspot.co.uk/