The Spitangnolo is Real. 6/26/17

Hey family!

This week was loco, and I use loco because I spoke a bunch of broken Spanish mixed in with Italian.

It started out with us going to the house of some less active members. They have only been less active for a while because of medical problems that came unexpectedly, but due to a miraculous recovery, soon they will return to church. This family is from Peru, and because of that, they all speak Spanish. Some, the grandmother, only speaks Spanish. So obviously we spoke in Spanish to them. It was great and they fed us "Peruvian Chaos." That was pretty yummy.

Our work also grew quite a bit this week. And it grew in the South American side. We got in contact with a few potentials we met last Sunday and they are now investigators, which means more Spanish for me. Then we had a great lesson with JO, who was one of the "less actives" found at the park. Turns out, he is not even less active, he was an investigator in Peru. We met with him, a friend of his, and some other elders who live in the zone he lives in. We had a sweet lesson in 100% (my Spitangnolo) Spanish. I'm excited to see them progress over there.

We had a cool miracle while working this week. One of our ex-investigators texted us. He is named HY and is from the Philippines. He wanted to meet again and he is finding out for himself that the Book of Mormon is true. He wants to follow all the things we teach him, but his problem is that his wife does not like the idea of becoming Mormon. He is doing his best to follow Jesus Christ and invite her to search Him out as well.

That is about it for this week. It went really well and I'm excited for this next one. Especially because we have a surprise zone conference this week, so that will be great.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Anziano Ridd

Happy Father's Day! 6/19/17

District pic

Hey family!

First, Happy Father's Day to my Dad. He is the best ever, and never stops doing things to make our family a stronger and more united family.

This week was sooo busy. We had lots of things happen, like transfers, strikes, meetings and questura appointments.

So transfer calls came down like this, I am staying the exact same, and Anziano Boscán is still my companion.  The empty spaces in the district are filled by Sorella N'zoungani (from Italy) and Sorella Moro (from Costa Rica), the first of which is my daughter in the mission! Her trainer is Sorella Crandell, who was in my MTC group.

Then there were other things, but that's all the district news.

The day after transfers we usually have the Mission Leadership Council, but due to a nationwide transportation strike, that was not possible. Lucky for me, I had to find my way across Rome that day because I had to renew my residency permit...funnn. That was completely crazy.

MLC was great though. We talked a ton about raising the standard of the mission and improving as much as possible. So our theme is to search for those "plateaus" that we have reached, and keep climbing up.

Then on Sunday we had CS and SM confirmed. I got the wonderful opportunity to confirm and give the gift of the Holy Ghost to SM. It was a great experience and they were both so happy afterward. The priesthood is such a beautiful thing to have restored on the earth again. I'm always in such awe of the generosity our Heavenly Father had when he restored it back to the Earth.

That night was super cool, too. We did a bunch of finding with a lot of good success. We can't wait to reap some rewards during this week. Also that finding totally involved “crashing” a Peruvian party.

I have been studying Preach My Gospel, the promises in the Book of Mormon, and a ton of conference talks recently. I really love the Book of Mormon study. 

Anyways, I love you all, and have a great week!

Anziano Ridd

Another photo from last week's baptism

He Got Sposed - 6/12/17

The wedding

The baptism!

Hey family, what a week. 

I'm gonna just say, this week was pretty dang amazing. So I'll throw it down in bullet points/chronological order. Also, I had my first baptism LITERALLY in the center of Rome this week. Go CS and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• This week I got to go on a scambio with the OG Rome 3 squad, Anziano Bourne and me. We had a great time calling a few people to repentance and warning of the suffering of not being able to progress eternally. Then we got to meet with one of my favorite families in that ward, the “C” family. All I've got to say is - cheers to Anziano Bourne and a mission well served. He is leaving for home tomorrow and he was a fantastic missionary from beginning to end.                                                                   
• We had a cool opportunity to do some PR for the church as well. Some master’s students from the biggest university in Rome - and I think in Europe - came by to learn about the Mormons. So, along with a few of the leaders here, we were able to present the church to them and also teach a ton of history. It was a solid experience and I'm sure that we will see more students in the future.                                                                                                                                                          
• Saturday was the night of the WEDDING. CS and his new wife CA got married by our bishop and it was so awesome. The gospel truly changes lives, and they are on the way to having an eternal family.                                                                                                                                             
• On Sunday we had a solid day at church, and then we had the BAPTISM of CS and SM, one of the sisters’ investigators. They were all so excited and it was such a great experience to see the long-awaited joy start coming into their lives. Baptism is the first fruit of the Gospel.                                                                                             
• OL showed up a bit too late to see the baptism, but told us he was having a terrible day. But he prayed to Joseph Smith and felt happier and lighter. Sadly we don't pray to him...we pray to God...it’s a work in progress.  :P                                                                                                                        
• We ate at the bishop’s house and it was fantastic. He and his wife are SOOOO Italian. They told us about their experiences in America and it was hilarious. For example, he despises burritos. He can't handle putting all the food together and eating it like that; he needs to taste and eat each ingredient separately. Lol, that probably makes no sense to any of you not serving in Italy.                                                                                                                                            
• Then I topped off the cake by seeing Fabian, one of my new converts from Napoli, come to Rome. I saw him for a bit and it was awesome. I adore this guy, and he is such a blessing to all the people around him.                                                                                                                     

Anyways, it was an amazing week. We get transfer calls tonight so I'll let y'all know what goes on next week. I assume I'll still be here though. 

I love you all!

Anziano Ridd

Fabian, Anziano Boscán & Anziano Ridd