A Lesson From My Broken Backpack Strap

Hey Fam, 

Another busy week done here in Foggia. It was a good one though. 

I learned a little about holding back anger this week. In retrospect it wasn't that big of a deal but in the moment I was very peeved. So here's the story. We went to go visit a less active member of the church. Now this kind lady has two dogs, one of them was a stray she picked up. The dogs are great but seeing as they are dogs who live in an apartment they have a lot of energy. So while I'm trying to talk to this lady I have two dogs barking, jumping all over me, and in general trying to play with me and I wasn't really in the mood. Finally, the dog chills out and lays down by my feet (bad sign). So we start sharing a spiritual thought and then I feel the dog moving but I don't think anything of it until I realize what's going on. I look down and see the dog has gnawed the strap of my backpack in half. Swag. So I pick my backpack up and everyone there apologizes. I play it cool like it's no big deal but on the inside I kinda wanted to kick the dog in the face. I didn't though. So after this I try and finish the spiritual thought but I can't because of my anger towards this dog. In the end though everything worked out. I tried to super glue my strap back together but I realized that backpack straps when mixed with superglue burn..... so that wasn't good. But then a nice sister missionary took pity on my and sewed my bag back up. So in the end, my bag got fixed and I learned a nice lesson about not worrying about the little things so much. In the moment it seemed like the worst thing in the world but in the end it all worked out. 

So besides the backpack incident this week went really well. It rained a lot less. We were able to meet with a lot more people and do some more teaching. Me and my companion are getting along great and having a good time here. We have transfer calls one week from today and then after that I will start my last transfer. Only 50 more days left as a missionary. That's weird. Hopefully I can stay here in Foggia and make the best of it. 

Today for PDAY we didn't do anything crazy. We went to this city called Manfredonia and just looked around. Nothing big happening. I'll attach a few pics. Anyways, life is good. God is good. I'm happy. It might rain today. I guess we will see what happens. Love you all. 

Anziano Yskes 

Manfredonia

My Broken Backpack Strap

Wall Mural

Rainbow

Tomasso

Hey fam,

We had a really exciting, uplifting, and busy week. We finished it

feeling really good about everything that happened and everything we

did. So I'll tell ya about it...

This week we went to Rome! That was neat. We had a conference with all

the missionaries (except Sicily) in the mission. It was way cool. We

had the awesome opportunity to listen to President Kearon who is the

president over the church in the Europe area. So that was cool. The

conference went very well and I learned a lot of new things. One thing

I liked is that he said as missionaries we need to be the message that

we bring. I mean we claim to bring a message of happiness and a

message that teaches us to follow Jesus Christ, we should probably

emulate those characteristics as missionaries. So I'm going to work on

that.

While up in Rome I was able to talk to the missionaries in Rome where

I served last year. Good news! Abraham (the guy who I baptized while

in Rome) is doing really well. He has a job at the temple working

construction and is stronger in the church than ever before. In fact

today is the one-year anniversary of his baptism. That's pretty neat.

Other than the fact we went to Rome our week in Foggia was much busier

than others. We were able to meet with and help lots of people and

even make some new friends along the way. One instance in particular

was interesting....

So we were talking to a man named Tomasso and he recounted a story

from WWII to us. He told us about these German officers who went to

the theatre one night to watch a choir of Jewish children sing. The

oldest child in the choir being 8 years old or so. He said they sang

well and everything went fine until after the performance, the German

officers led the choir of children out to "take a shower." Now anyone

familiar with WWII and the holocaust events knows that none of those

children left that shower alive, and then this kind man looked me in

the eyes and said "Ma Dio.... Dov'era?" Which means "but God.... Where

was he?" I paused not really knowing what to say until suddenly I

responded, telling him that I wanted to tell him a story from the Book

of Mormon. I told him of two missionaries named Alma and Amulec who

went preaching to a city of wicked people. They helped convert many

but many more hardened their hearts against God and these

missionaries. So they took the missionaries up to the top of a hill

overlooking the city. They then set fire to the city, taking all those

who professed to believe in what Alma and Amulec said, and threw them

in the fire. Now, Amulec seeing this horrible scene says

"How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore, let us stretch forth

our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them

from the flames. (Alma 14:10)"

Now Alma pauses for a second, thinks, and says this back to his companion:

"The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand;

for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he

doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do

this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that

the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be

just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against

them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day." (Alma

14:11)

I then proceeded to tell Tomssso that sometimes God has to let these

things happen. Why? Because if he didn't how could he judge these evil

men for committing a sin they had yet to commit. God lets these men

commit this sin so as to be able to righteously judge them for what

they've done in the next life. Now, those suffering are received in

the kingdom of God. They, immediately after their tragic death, find

solace and peace with their Father in Heaven. A blessing greater than

they could have received here on the earth. Tomasso liked that answer,

saying he had never thought of it like that. I then thought to myself

"well neither have I." Then I thanked God for giving some much needed

help. It was pretty neat.

Well in the end all is well. I got my "Two month departing packet" in

Rome. Basically it's a bunch of things to fill out and information

about going home and finishing the mission. I have less than two

months left. That's weird. It's going by way to fast and I definitely

need to eat way more Gelato before I leave this beautiful country.

Anyways, hope you all have a good week, love you tons.

Anziano Yskes

Rome Conference

New Shoes