Teaching Abraham and Bobby, African Refugees

So I decided for this week I'm going to try and make my emails less
lame and give you more of an update on what I do each day. So let's
see how it goes.

Tuesday was pretty awesome I mean we had DDM which is just a district
training meeting for our district that I lead every week and I decided
to talk about goals and how goals are important and stuff like that.
It's tough out here sometimes because numerically this mission doesn't
give you the best results but I showed the district how numbers are
important but you can't let them get you down. Then a little later in
the day we went to see our African friend Abraham who is so swag. So
he is a refugee living here in Italy and has been here for like 4
months or so. He lives in a Red Cross camp right now but he loves the
gospel. He knows it's true and we set a Baptism Date with him for
September 12:) so hopefully everything goes good with that. He even
introduced us to some of his friends so I'm excited for that. That
evening we went down to city center for a lesson with a less active.
The lesson was good and stuff but it was so cool because we did it
sitting at the bottom of "il vitoriano" which is the big white
building I sent pictures of. So to my left is this building to my
right is the Roman forum and a little past that is the coliseum. So
swag. But that was Tuesday.

Wednesday was me and Eldridge's last day together as companions but
don't worry we are still in the same district he just went back to the
other missionary house BUT! Our last day together was a good day. We
taught our friend Abraham and his friend Bobby. We have seen his
friend once before today. So we went to their house and then brought
them to church. We needed to show them a good way to come to church so
they can come quicker and easier. So we went to church had a lesson
with them and it went very good. Abraham is so ready he just needs to
come to church.

Thursday. First day with my new companions. Anziano Just and Mercado.
The first little while with a new companion(s) is usually awkward but it's
good. We went on a little tour of the city. I took them around and
showed them the area I think it's good the first little while with
your companions to try and get to know them. It's hard to teach or
talk to people when you are with a complete stranger. Anyways good day
:)

Friday. So today is weekly planning day. Had to introduce my new
companions to all the work we got going on. Basically familiarize them
with how things are going here in Rome 6. The day went pretty okay,
nothing to extraordinary but Friday night we went to a ward activity.
So because our ward is like 80% central/South American it basically
became a Latino fiesta. I'm not complaining. We had 2 investigators
come and there was so much good food. And not Italian food. So I was
kinda pumped for the change. They had good music and we showed the
whole ward our moves..... I'll send you the video ha-ha but because of
the Latino influence in our ward I get to practice my Spanish. I
understand A LOT better than I speak. But I probably understand more
now than I did back home. I just forgot how to speak but a bunch if
members said they would help me. Going for a 3rd language ha-ha!

Saturday. Nothing crazy happened today. We just had an awesome lesson
with Abraham and Bobby again. We went over the restoration for Bobby
and kind of a re pass for Abraham and the spirit that was there was so
strong. They recounted their stories in pretty great detail of coming
to Italy and how dangerous it was and how they saw a lot of people and
friends die on the trip but how they know that because of God’s mercy
they are alive today and it was amazing. I don't know how they are
always so happy. They live in a Red Cross run camp. Don't have
anything except the clothes on their back, they've lost everything and
even family and friends to get here but yet they are some of the
happiest people I know. Blessings on blessings on blessings.

Sunday. I love Sunday's out here in the mission! This one was
especially good because Abraham finally came to church!!! Let's go! He
showed up looking fresh in the white shirt we gave him. I was so
pumped. I took him through church and translated all of it. I like
translating for him because I can explain it all in a way he will
understand and I can explain common "church terms" in a way he can
understand too. Then in sacrament meeting I played the piano.... Not
very good. Only the right hand. But I did it. I was so nervous and
didn't pay a whole lot of attention during sacrament meeting because I
was practicing on the piano not trying to mess up. Anyways it was a
good week!

Sounds like you had a crazy week too though. I'm glad Grant’s baptism
went good! I loved all of the pictures and everything. Also love the
last second cape! I saw the pictures first and I was like "why is a C
on the back?" Now I get it and that's so cool! Also mom don't get too
worried about all these people getting married. We hope that's me in 2
years. No stress mom. ;) plus there are a ton more of "your youth"
getting married very soon! Ha-ha don't worry though, you're not that
old yet. You still run marathons though so that's cool! When's your
next race because I didn't know you were running another one? Maybe I
just don't pay attention. Anyways have fun in Utah! Hope you have a
good week! And don't worry, Ian will take great care of the kids while
you're gone! Love you all so much! Ciao ciao!

Anziano Yskes

 

A Pretty Chill Week

Thanks for the email ;) ha-ha! So it sounds like you had a good week! Didn't know dad and Ian came home. That must have been nice to see them! It was touching to hear the story about grandpa’s favorite song being played in church. I'm sure that's not by coincidence that things like that happen.

Me and Anziano Eldridge did some good work this past week. Even cleaned the house. I got really good at cleaning bathrooms on the mission. But we had transfer calls this week and I'm going to stay here in Rome 6 but I am getting two new companions. Mercado and Just. Both of them are "younger" than me in the mission so it should be interesting. Idk how the transfer will play out. Working in 3 is kinda hard but I'll figure it out. I guess I need to learn something from them. Nothing super crazy happened this week though that I can remember. We ate some good food. (Like always) this next week I start my 6th transfer which is crazy to think I've been out here this long. Time flies. Anyways. Not much to say this week ha-ha love you all!

Anziano Yskes

 

The many faces of Zach...

 

Treated to some American Food!

I'm glad that you're able to see all the blessings in your life! This week went pretty good for me too so that's good! I can't believe Grant is already getting baptized. That's seriously so crazy! Make sure to get me some good pictures of his baptism. Also hit me up with some more info about the presidential races right now. The missionaries here are very interested in what's about to go down. Also just wanted to thank you for keeping the blog updated and also my Instagram! I really do appreciate it a lot and it's so awesome to be able to share all my experiences with so many different people. 

So this week here was pretty good. We had a Mexican fiesta Tuesday with a bunch of missionaries because one is from Mexico so obviously we all made some Mexican food and that was way fun! Also we got a call this week. Some stuff happened and my original companion Anziano Castillo is getting transferred to Sassari in Sardegna which is super crazy! He leaves early tomorrow morning. He is super pumped, a little sad to be leaving Rome but it's still cool. So now I'll be back in 2 with my bro Anziano Eldridge. We still have to cover 2 areas until the end of the transfer so we will be working hard for about the next week and a half or so! But it will be fun; we get along super well which makes everything so fun. Also Sunday we went over to this sweet American member’s house. He works for the CIA or something in like the terrorist division so he travels all over the place but he is here right now in Rome. So he had us over and he was loaded in the American food game. He had Mtn Dew and Root beer and Ranch and then a pot roast and maple syrup and sloppy joe and taco salsa. :) He gave us some and when he goes to Napoli in a few weeks will get us some more Mtn dew and salsa from the American army base. Let's go!!!! So pumped for that. Americans coming in CLUTCH! Anyways it was a good week! Love you tons!!

Anziano Yskes 

Anziano Castillo is Leaving ;-(

 

American Treats...Yesssss!

 

Can't go without a pic of a sports car

 



 

A Visit to the Vatican and Sistine Chapel

So it's seriously crazy to me that it's already August ha-ha but
anyways. The work week this week was pretty good. We have been
teaching a lot of people and it's been really exciting being able to
be a part of all of this. Since we are in a trio now, we cover two
different proselyting areas so we have like double the people to
teach. We stay very busy. It's amazing but super tiring. One of the
things though is the time it takes to travel places. Rome has
a good public transportation system. it's just that the city is so
spread out it's hard to get everywhere. For example we traveled 2
hours taking 2 metros, a train, and a bus to get to a members house
Saturday night. We spend a lot of time on public transport but the
blessings come. For example, Saturday morning we were on the metro
going to see an investigator and this guy came up to my companion and
was like "Mormons! I need to talk to you" he explained how he was
going through some stuff and needed some help. He knew we could help
him so he came to talk to us. I don't know how we ran into each other
on the metro at that moment or how he knew we could help him but we
did what we needed to do and God did the rest. It's amazing to see the
blessings.

Also, this week we went to go give a member a Book of Mormon to give to
his friend. But he works at this Philippino restaurant so we went
there. My companion is from the Philippines so when we went there he
was talking to all the people there in Tagalog (language of the
Philippines) and me and Eldridge were like..... Uhhh what's going on
hahaha but the important part is we got this guy his BOM and then we
ate food there.  It was soooooo good. I was dying of hunger at
that point but. Bruh. It was the best thing ever. Church was good this
week, too. So in our ward we have a bunch of Americans who work on the
temple and then also a bunch of tourists so every week I do
translating in all 3 hours and the first week here I sucked. It's one
thing to be able to speak the language but it's a complete other to
translate. So I was translating in sacrament and it was testimony
meeting so I was sitting in the corner translating into a mic and then
it radios what I say to a bunch of little headsets that people use to
hear what I say. So I was translating and then some Americans got up
to bear their testimony so I had to go up front and translate that
into Italian. It was crazy. My brain was so confused ha-ha but it was
really cool because I really had to pay attention and it was a really
good time. Today for PDAY we went to the Vatican and it was so
beautiful and amazing! The Vatican museum has soooooo much stuff to
see from all different parts of the world. They have like the greatest
collection of ancient antiquities from Greece and Egypt and all around
the world. It was so cool. Sistine Chapel was cool. Obviously. It was
a really good day. Also cool to see how the Catholic Church had a lot
of beliefs similar to ours and you can see it there. For example, in
the Sistine Chapel God has a body just like Adam. Stuff like that.
It's been a good week! Love you all tons!

Anziano Yskes

The Vatican