Conference in Rome with Elder Bednar

Yeah dad gave me the update on Ian and his robotics team! It’s crazy how
good they did and I’m so proud of him! Sounds like you did really good
in your 10k run! That’s seriously so awesome! I’m sure you will do just
as good in the marathon run too! Idk what else to really comment on
now. I’m so tired, I didn’t sleep a lot last night cuz we took a night
train down from Rome to Palermo and like, yeah, I didn’t sleep a lot haha
and I played Frisbee today cuz i got the Frisbee :) so I’m like super
tired so I’ll give you the update on the Conference.

So Monday they flew us up to Rome. We left and it was sunny and blue
skies in Palermo but 45 min later we were trying to land in Rome. I
say try because we didn’t get the landing on the first try. There was a
huge rain storm and the turbulence was so crazy! We were coming in
for the first landing and like 500 feet from the ground the pilot
threw the thrusters on full and we almost went straight up into the
air. I was like " well guess we aren’t landing right now" and then at
the top of the climb the plane went into a 6 second stall which felt
like going down the first big drop on a roller coaster except on a
plane. It was an experience. After we landed the pilot was like
talking to us and he was breathing like he just ran a 5K. It was cool
hahahahahah but after that it was good! The next day was the
conference and it was so amazing in every aspect. Bednar was amazing!
He was very chill with us but also very spiritual. He bore testimony
about how proud he is of every senior couple missionary that is
serving and the spirit was soooo crazy strong when he did that
everyone was just jaw dropped or balling. Seriously, so good. After the
conference, though we walked around Rome a lil bit before we took the
overnight train home to Palermo. We went and saw all the cool sights,
even though it was pouring rain it was an experience but I’m happy to
be back in Sicily! I love it here!

Well that’s pretty much it for this week! I’ll email you again on Monday
when p-day goes back to normal! I love you all so much!

Anziano Yskes

At the Conference with my 2 favorite MTC Comps

 

At the Rome Airport (OK, Zach....just one nice smile for your mother...please...)

 

 

The Trevi Fountain

 

 

The Pantheon

 

 



Altare della Patria

 

 

The Colosseum

 

 

A View of Rome and me in "the building"

 

 

 



 

A New Companion and a Visit to the Duomo in Monreale

Stake conference sounds like it went really well! And how do we have
28 missionaries serving? Where did they all come from haha but that’s
so awesome that we have that many going out and doing the work! Keep
me updated on where people go on their missions. Tyler (Robinson) said he is
submitting his papers soon so I am so excited for him.

So I got my new companion. Anziano Borner. He is pretty cool. We are
both way young in the mission so we goof around a lot but don’t worry
cuz we get work done! I think we are going to have a good transfer
together these next 6 weeks!

Good luck on your training and the 10K. I’ll try to remember you in my
nighttime prayers but I wish you the best of luck! Just go out and do
your best cuz even if you don’t place, if you left it all out there you
can’t complain!

So this week was a pretty good week here in Italy. IDK if I told you
but last week we went back to the cave and explored it a ton more. We
were down there for like an hour and a half and at some points I was
crawling thorough there because it got so skinny. Also a couple days ago
there was a huge street food festival! Dad would have loved it. There was
so much good food and a lot of it was unhealthy but it was so good.
I felt a lil sick after all the crap I ate but it was totally worth it!

Anyways, I think that’s all for this week! I hope you and the family
has a great a great week and I wish you all the best! Love you tons

Anziano Yskes

 

My new Comp and I Chillin' in Mountains of Monreale  

 

A view from Monreale looking over Palermo

 

 

 

This is the Duomo in Monreale, its a huge church and you gotta

look it up because its world famous. look into it! Oh and all of that

stuff that looks like gold, its gold. A lot a lot a lot of gold!!!

 

 

Yes, a crazy selfie. Zach....your mom just wants a nice picture!!!

 

 

Marco's Baptism

So the baptism went awesome! Nothing too crazy happened and all of
Marcos family came. It was  awesome that they were all there to
support him! At church when we did the confirmation, it was so
spiritual. Everyone at church was so pumped to have him become a
part of our big family! Oh, and there is a sister here who was an actor
on Broadway so she sang “I am a Child of God” and she had this sick
piano accompaniment and it was so awesome!

Tell Ian I’m so proud of him! Even if he is a lil’ bit of a nerd that’s so
awesome what he is doing in that robotics team! I guess he is a lil’ famous
now after getting interviewed by the news! Tell him to watch out for all
the babes trying to get him! hahaha what a qt.

Also loving the pictures of home so keep sending them because
they are actually really cool! So, yeah, if you could just send one of
my regular Frisbees from home that I have. One of the white ones that
are 175g or something that would be perfect! I miss Frisbee but we
played some soccer last week on mini soccer fields and it was sooooo
fun but afterwards I was like so dead. My legs were sore for like 3
days.

Oh and yeah I get packages when people come down from
Rome. I might get them during transfers which is this Thursday or I’ll
get them when we go up to Rome on the 28th which is going to be so
sick! So "non ti preocupare" which means don’t worry! Hakuna Matata and
all that good stuff! I guess that’s all I have to say for this week!

OH, I almost forgot! We got transfer calls and Ferrin is heading out to
Malta! Lucky duck! I’m staying in Bagheria for 6 more weeks which is
actually really awesome because I love this city and I’m so pumped for
the future! Going to be so awesome! Anyways! Love you all! Have a good
week!

Ciao ciao

Anziano Yskes

Marco's Baptism

Marco's Family

 

Selfie of Marco, Anziano Ferrin, Lorenzo and I

 



 

So, we got each of the missionaries in the district 1kg eggs with a
surprise in the middle for transfer predictions. You use the surprise
to guess where you're going but look at this egg tho.... huge!!!

 



 

Bagheria at it's finest



 

The many faces of trash in Bagheria hahahahaha....love it!

 

 

 

 

 

Cefalu, Easter and General Conference

So, our p-day got changed because yesterday was Pasquetta, the day after
Easter. All the stores were shut down and everything it was so crazy
but since the whole country basically shuts down on this day it was
our cleaning day. So, we basically spent the whole day cleaning the
house. So, yeah, it was way fun. Today is our new p-day and we are going
to play Zone Soccer at a field near the church. There are a ton of
missionaries here so it should be a ton of fun. Anyways, so this
week...

We had a pretty good week this week; saw many miracles and what not.
We’ve been working hard and are preparing for the baptism this week.
There was a bunch of craziness for Easter and Good Friday. There was a
precession that literally paraded under our balcony Friday night. That
was interesting, a little bit of idolatry but ehh, it was culturally
cool. Then we had Conference and Easter Sunday which were amazing.
Watching Conference as a missionary is so crazy but soo enlightening.
We watched the Saturday morning session Saturday night because of the
time change and then Priesthood Sunday morning and then after that was
Saturday afternoon and then Sunday session live. wWe don’t get to watch
Sunday night session because it comes on too late here but I’ll read
about it in the Ensign or something. Also Elder Texiera spoke which was
cool! Totally saw him like 2 weeks ago; we were hoping for a shout out
but we didn’t get one ha-ha. This week is going to be a busy week though
and I’m super excited. Bagheria has a lot of potential and I wouldn’t
mind staying here for a while. My trainer will probably leave at the
end of this transfer so hopefully my next companion is ready to work
hard!

Also, sounds like you guys had a awesome week! Looks like a lot is
happening in Michigan ha-ha. Spring is finally coming. The pictures
look great and I love the pancakes (referring to pictures of crazy colorful
Easter pancakes). Idk I guess I don’t have a lot to say today ha-ha other than
if you wanted to send me some Old Spice shampoo and one of my Frisbees
that would be sick. They don’t have any of those things here in Italy and I
miss Frisbee but anyways, hope you all have an amazing week and I’ll talk
to you soon! And I’ll be calling on Mother’s day!!! Love you all

Ciao Ciao
Anziano Yskes

A few pictures from Cefalu, a resort town about an hour away. Literally the most beautiful city in the world!

 

A view from our balcony of the Good Friday Processional

 



My Easter Egg!