Luke's Missionary Blog: Buona Pasquetta!!? 4/17/17

Castel Sant'Angelo

Good morning and Happy little Easter!

Today in Italy it is a holiday called Pasquetta, which is just a continuation of the party on Easter. The young people put it like this: Pasqua is a day to be with family and party, but Pasquetta is a day to party with your friends. What a way to celebrate Jesus Christ's saving Atonement. (!!!).

Anyways, this week was pretty solid; it was so many things together so I'll keep it short and interesting.

On Wednesday morning, we had to do quite a few calls to set up appointments, when we randomly received a call. It was a potential we found the day before and it went like this: (literal Italian to English translation):

Anziano Bourne: "Ready, I am Elder Bourne."

MN: "Hey, I am at the church, where are you?"

Anziano Bourne: "What? We are close. We will be there in just a second."

MN: "Ok, I'll wait here."

The next 15 minutes we were in a dead sprint to get from our apartment to the church, which was not seconds away. But thank goodness we did, because MN came to another lesson and to church on Sunday. He is a 30 year old guy from Albania and has amazing faith in Jesus Christ.

Also right now it is strawberry season here. Oh my gosh, the strawberries are the best thing ever. As the Italians say, "The fruit and veggies in southern Italy taste as God intended them to taste." So the other day Anziano Bourne and I bought 2 boxes of strawberries (not just little boxes ~ BIG boxes) and went around handing them out to people. We originally bought them for us...but that was the most fun finding method I have done in awhile. I had a mile-wide smile on my face, hahaha.

One thing that was also awesome is that I went on a scambio with Anziano Dunn. He is the most energetic missionary ever; I have no doubt in my mind. He is a great guy from Utah and plays lacrosse. We had a great scambio and had the chance to find quite a few people. THE FINALE. We got invited to go to our Bishop's house for Pasqua (Easter). We went and he had invited about 30 other people too. So we had tons of food and grilled up tons of meat (yum). The Italian tradition is to eat lamb, so we had amazing lamb skewers. We also got a chance to talk a ton with some less active members there, and because of that, one is now progressing to become an active member. We are excited and hope that soon enough he will go on a mission. Also I got to talk to a member that is from Palermo, and oh man, do I miss that place. It was a great Easter for me this year.

I hope all of you take a bit to reflect on why we should believe in Jesus Christ. I know He is my Savior and He gives me guidance every day.

I love you all. Have a great Easter.

Anziano Ridd